The Small Steps
by lefty21
Summary: A story that follows the small steps that Seth and Summer take in their relationship.
1. chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own The O.C. and am not affiliated with it in any way. It's all property of Fox and the nice suits over there.

A/N: This takes around the current time of the show, the only difference is that the events of the finale didn't happen, and Theresa isn't pregnant.

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Summer Roberts sat motionless on one end of the Cohen's living room couch. Seth Cohen occupied the other end where he was lazily rubbing Summer's feet while focusing his full attention on Al Pacino and Marlon Brando. Ryan and Marissa populated the comfy chair next to the couch where Ryan, much like Seth, idly rubbed Marissa's shoulders while intensely focusing on the scene playing out on the television before them.

Summer could not, for the life of her, figure out why all men, tough guys from "the hood" and comic book geeks alike, had such a huge fascination with _The Godfather _trilogy_. _It was boring, and bloody, and completely not what she had had in mind when Seth had invited her over that night.

He had called a few hours before stating that his parents would be going out for dinner that night and not returning home until very late, giving Seth and Summer the opportunity for some much craved "alone time". Alone time was something they had been greatly lacking in lately due to the return of Summer's father from an extended business trip.

It was beyond easy to get alone time whenever Mr. Roberts had to attend a convention in LA for a long weekend or travel cross country to lend his expertise to an especially prestigious and high paying client, but upon his returns home, their frequent afternoon liaisons in Summer's bedroom become very infrequent; almost nonexistent in fact.

Trysts at the Cohen's abode were also very limited considering Seth and Summer had already been caught once in an extremely compromising position and were not eager to suffer through that awkwardness again. It was for these reasons that Seth and Summer had somewhat of an unspoken agreement that whenever an opportunity, such as the one presented tonight, was available, they would take it.

It was because of that agreement that Summer sat on the couch extremely pissed off and just a little bit frustrated. Seth had broken the agreement! A perfect opportunity had presented itself to them tonight and were they taking advantage of it? No. They were sitting in the living room with their best friends watching _The Godfather_, with _Parts II _and _III _pending.

In all fairness, Seth had been completely into taking advantage of their opportunity when she had first arrived. In fact, they had been in his room a good twenty minutes and had reached, what Summer thought was, the point of no return, when Ryan knocked on the door.

Of course, the first thing Seth and Summer did was ignore the knocking, hoping Ryan would realize that they were in no position to be disturbed. But Ryan, not always being the quickest to catch on, persisted with the incessant rapping and finally resorted to calling Seth's name. Upon realizing that Ryan was not getting any kind of clue from the silence, Seth had no choice but to give him a verbal hint that his interruption was most certainly not welcome.

Seth slightly pushed Summer away just long enough to grunt out a hasty, "Fuck off," before returning to the task at hand.

To Seth's and Summer's dismay however, Ryan did not obey their order. He cracked the door just enough to enthusiastically, at least for Ryan, inform Seth that there was a _Godfather _marathon on.

At this point Summer was beyond annoyed and was about to let Ryan know with a few choice four letter words.

Before Summer could get a word out though, Seth answered with a response that Summer was nowhere near the one Summer was going to use.

"Dude, why didn't you just say so? We'll be down in a minute," Seth said without so much as acknowledging the death stare that Summer had moved from Ryan to him.

"What the hell was that?" Summer asked after Ryan left the room with a huffy Marissa in tow. "I did not come over here to watch _The Godfather!_"

"Summer, it's a marathon. How often do they show a marathon of the entire _Godfather_ trilogy?"

"How about every other weekend on basic cable."

"No, they show_ Part I_ every other weekend, or _Part II_, and every once in a while _Part III_, but never all at once, in succession. This way you get the whole experience. Not just the part I experience or part III experience."

"Why do you even want to see _Part III_? Didn't like all the critics say that it was a disgrace to the trilogy?"

"Basically, in so many words, yes. But that's because they all saw and judged it like almost two decades after the first two came out. When seen directly after _Parts I _and_ II, Part III_ is just as mind blowing, because you still have the whole "feel" of the mafia drama from the first two parts being fresh in your brain. By the time those critics got to the third part, they had already lost the "feel" at least a decade before."

"Your telling me you'd rather have your mind blown with Ryan and Marissa in the living room, by watching a bunch of Italians kill a ton of people, rather than have it blown by me in here?"

"Summer, you can't compare you and _The Godfather_. It's like comparing apples and oranges. You're both equally mind blowing on completely different levels."

"Well, which of us would you rather have blow your mind right now?" She asked in an almost threatening yet seductive tone, accenting her ultimatum with a provocative smile as incentive. "Keep in mind how long it's been since we've done it and how long it's going to be before we do it again if you turn me down for _The Godfather_."

"Summeeerrrr, it's _The Godfather_," Seth whined almost desperately.

"Fine, Cohen," came Summer's pissy reply. She snatched her discarded shirt from the ground and violently pulled it over her head. "But don't even think of touching me anytime soon. I don't take being passed up for _The Godfather _very kindly."

"Whatever you say, Summer," Seth tossed over his shoulder as he made his way out his bedroom door and towards the stairs. A sulky and very annoyed Summer followed behind.

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Now, three and a half hours into the marathon, but just barely into the second part, Summer, and Marissa, sat bored out of their minds as their boyfriends sat completely entranced.

Summer would have left two hours ago if not for the fact that she had gotten into a huge fight with her stepmother before leaving her house, and wanted to wait to go home until she was sure the woman had taken enough sleeping pills to be knocked out cold until well into the next day.

If only the plastic airhead hadn't borrowed Summer's favorite sweater without asking and stretched out the chest area with her totally obvious fake boobs, Summer would have been able to continue to ignore the woman like she usually did. But, as it was, the woman had ruined Summer's favorite sweater and Summer simply could not let that go. She bitched Amy out, and proceeded to walk out the front door, slamming it in the bitch's manufactured, botox filled face.

Besides a few minutes of total self satisfaction, this got Summer nothing but the assurance that she would be getting a few choice insults from the evil stepmother when she returned home, and at least an hour long lecture from her father about how she needs to learn to respect Amy.

Neil Roberts always took Amy's side when it came to fights between the two women of the household. Of course, in all honestly, Summer couldn't really blame him. Amy's form of punishment was definitely more effective than Summer's week or two of silent treatment.

It was because of this proven fact that Summer reluctantly stayed at the Cohen's house, bored to tears, rather than return home and listen to her father rant about how she has no respect for anyone for the better part of the night, and consequently, still be bored to tears. Summer had basically chosen between the lesser of two evils. At least at the Cohen's house she could take a bathroom break.

In addition to being able to avoid the parents for the rest of the night, Summer was greatly enjoying the foot massage Seth was giving her. She had spent all morning and most of the afternoon shopping with Marissa and her feet were killing her. And, despite the minimal effort Seth was actually putting into it, it still felt really good after being on her feet for seven hours.

Summer had just begun blissfully drifting off to sleep, as Seth continued to rub her feet, when a loud bang penetrated her peaceful state. She opened her eyes to see that it had begun pouring outside, and the loud bang had actually been thunder. Seeing as the rain had very little effect on her, Summer immediately disregarded the storm and lightly kicked Seth's hand that had momentarily stopped rubbing her feet as a result of an especially intense scene taking place. Upon Summer's urging, Seth's hands instantly started moving again and Summer settled back into her previous state of bliss.

It was only about twenty minutes after the storm had started that a particularly loud boom and the distinct sound of something snapping could be heard in the Cohen living room. These sounds were immediately followed by complete darkness overtaking the entire house.

Ryan's groan could be heard coming from the chair, coupled with Marissa's sigh of relief. Seth's anguished, "No!" however, seemed to make the biggest impression.

"Seth, it's just _The Godfather_," Marissa said mildly condescending.

"Yeah dude. Besides, don't you have the box set on DVD?"

"What!" Summer shrieked, sounding more than slightly indignant. Apparently, either the thunder or the revelation that she had spent her entire Friday night watching some boring-ass movie that Seth had on DVD had woken her up and dragged her completely back into reality. "I just had to sit through four hours of _The Godfather_ and you have the trilogy on DVD. You ass!" Summer accented her last statement with a slap to Seth's chest.

"Summer, it's not the same. You get a different effect when you watch it on TV," Seth said in his defense. He knew it sounded lame, but he would have to be insane to willingly give himself up to the wrath of Summer without so much as an attempt at making a defense for himself. It was evident by the look on Summer's face that his attempt had failed miserably.

"Whatever Cohen, I'm going to bed," Summer said lifting herself from the couch.

At this statement, Seth's focus on Summer, which had been minimal at best ever sense _The Godfather _had been mentioned, became increasingly more. "What? You can't drive home now. It's pouring out."

"As much as I appreciate your attempt at finally paying attention to me and feigning concern, Cohen, you can stop worrying. I'm going to _your _bed," Summer said as she made her way toward the staircase.

At this statement, Seth quickened his pace and caught up to Summer on the stairs. "So I see your no fooling around resolve is weakening rather quickly. I knew you couldn't resist me for long," Seth said in mock arrogance.

"Yes Cohen, because I want you that badly," Summer said, her remark dripping with sarcasm. Seth chose to ignore it and grinned obnoxiously. She could sense the annoying smirk on his face and felt that it was her duty to wipe it off. "Or, there's just no way in hell I'm going home to my drugged up stepmother and clueless dad. Even staying here with _you _is better than listening to them." She emphasized the "you" with a jab to Seth's chest. She then proceeded to turn around and carefully make her way up the rest of the stairs in the dark.

"Did you and Amy have another fight?" Seth asked, his tone now sympathetic and soft rather than annoying and arrogant. Seth slipped a hand under the hem of Summer's shirt and began rubbing comforting circles on the small of her back, to which Summer did not protest.

"Whatever," Summer muttered, immediately dismissing the idea of actually talking about her feelings with her boyfriend. "There's just no way in hell I'm going back there tonight."

"That's fine," Seth responded supportively. "You know you're always welcome to stay here. Whether it's to avoid your parents or other reasons, I'm certainly not complaining." Summer smiled slightly at Seth's cheesy attempt to cheer her up. Despite the corniness, it was definitely appreciated. And, despite Summer's lack of response, Seth knew this.

When they reached the end of the hall where Seth's room was located, he, to Summer's slight disappointment, removed his hand from her lower back and blindly felt around for the door knob. When the handle was finally located, Seth opened the door and ushered Summer into the room.

"Shit," Summer cursed as her left foot came into contact with a hard plastic object on the floor near the head of Seth's bed. Seth stared curiously at the silhouette of Summer until he saw her bend down and come back up with a small plastic horse in her hand.

"You know, I really don't think Princess Sparkle would appreciate you setting Captain Oats on the floor where anybody could just step on him and break off one of his little hooves," Summer said, feigning concern for the small plastic horse.

"Really? 'Cause I was under the impression that Princess Sparkle wasn't very fond of Captain Oats. In fact, I do believe he was under specific orders to 'keep his hooves off'."

"Yeah, well, what can I say? He grew on her," Summer stated simply, letting the double meaning of her statement speak for itself.

"Hmm," Seth acknowledged with a nod and a wide grin that he was grateful was concealed by the darkness.

Nothing else was said as Seth retrieved two t-shirts and two pairs of boxer shorts from his dresser. He handed one set to Summer before moving into the bathroom and changing into the other set, but not without a certain degree of difficulty. Changing in the dark was definitely a bitch.

When Seth reemerged from the bathroom, Summer had already made her way under the covers on her designated side of the bed. Seth settled onto the opposite side and Summer shifted closer to him so that her head rested against his arm. They hardly ever cuddled when they slept, but every once in awhile they kind of just naturally moved into each other, and when that happened, neither one of them ever protested. Seth leaned his head slightly down to place a kiss on Summer's forehead before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep. Summer had already faded away moments before.

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Seth was freezing, and he had a pretty good idea as to why. Summer was never one to share. When she wanted something she wanted all of it, and nobody denied Summer Roberts something that she wanted. Seth's lack of blankets was proof of this.

Seth rolled over to see Summer on the other side of the bed completely immersed in a cocoon of blankets. Seth pondered his plan of action for only a millisecond before shaking Summer awake. He was already not getting any for at least a few weeks. He might as well be warm if he obviously wasn't going to be getting hot anytime soon.

To Seth's dismay however, his shaking did not wake Summer up. Instead, the only reaction it stirred from her was a loud moan. At this, Seth resorted to poking her ribs, a place where she was extremely ticklish. Out of instinct, Summer's eyes shot open and her right hand immediately went to Seth where she delivered a swift blow to his chest.

Seth grabbed his stomach and curled into a little ball. "Shit, Summer," he managed to choke out while trying to breath.

"It's your own damn fault," she responded to Seth's gasp without a hint of sympathy. "What the hell were you doing?"

"I was trying to wake you up."

"Why would you wake me up at 8:00 on a Saturday?"

"Because, you took all the blankets," Seth whined.

"You're such a baby, Cohen," she said as she began untangling her self from the mess of sheets and comforters she had created around her body. "Are you so incompetent that you couldn't get your ass out of bed to find another blanket?"

"I didn't want another blanket. I wanted my blanket."

"Fine ya big baby, take it." She said, thrusting the jumble of sheets and blankets at him.

"No, I don't want to sleep now. You kind of knocked the tired out of me," Seth muttered, rising from the bed and slowly walking towards the door, still holding his stomach.

Summer just rolled over and pulled the blankets back over her. "Whatever," she mumbled. "I didn't hit you that hard."

Seth rolled his eyes at her back before turning around and walking into his bathroom.

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Twenty minutes after the blanket incident, Seth sat in the kitchen eating cereal and reading the paper; his usual morning routine. He nearly spit out his frosted flakes when he saw his mom enter the kitchen from the direction of her bedroom.

"Hey mom," Seth said as he pushed aside his _Arts & Leisure _section. Kirsten noted to unnecessary enthusiasm in his voice, along with the glance that he shot up the stairs towards his bedroom. "What are you doing up so early? I thought you and dad were out pretty late. Ya know, the experts say it's not good for people your age, and by your age I mean young; it's not good for young people to get less than seven hours of sleep. It can screw up their whole day. Take the freshness right out of 'em."

Shit. Seth was rambling and he knew it. He also knew his mother knew it. Which meant she knew he was uncomfortable about something. Which, in turn, meant Seth was SOL.

"Seth…" Kirsten tried hopelessly to put her son out of his misery.

"No. I mean really mom, you should go back to bed for at least another two hours. You don't want your work to suffer because of your lack of sleep do you?" Seth continued in vain.

"Seth, it's Saturday. How often do I go to work on Saturday?"

"Riiigghhht…" Seth drew out the word in an attempt to give himself more time to think of something else to say. "You don't want to start the weekend off tired, do you?" Seth said meekly. "You won't appreciate the weekend fully if you're tired and don't have any energy... Right?" Seth stated hopelessly, this being his poor excuse for a last ditch effort.

"Seth," Kirsten said, pity and sympathy oozing from her voice. "Give up sweetie. Your father and I saw Summer's car in the driveway last night. We were going to talk to you about it this morning."

"Wow. Yeah, I never thought about the car."

"Yes, well, brilliant minds often overlook the smallest details," Kirsten said with a smirk on her face as she turned towards the fridge.

"I am brilliant, aren't I?" Seth said with a smirk of his own, rather pleased that they had moved past the "girls spending the night" conversation so quickly.

"Ah, don't encourage him Kirsten, you'll only add to that growing ego," Sandy said as he walked in, catching the tail end of the conversation.

"Yeah, well, the ego's hereditary, so thanks," Seth said with a smart-ass smile and a single nod in Sandy's direction.

"So are the eyebrows so watch it," Sandy rebutted with a pleased smile.

"Yes, but thankfully the humor is not."

Point and match. The son was declared the victor of that verbal volley. The father, however, resourceful as he was, was already planning his strategy for the rematch.

"So, did Summer sleep well?" Sandy asked nonchalantly as he poured himself a cup of coffee. Seth nearly spit out his own mouthful.

"Marissa's in the pool house," he tattled while pointing in the direction of said pool house.

"Don't be childish, Seth," Kirsten chided.

"I'm not. I'm just saying, if I'm going down then so are they."

Sandy sighed as he sat down at the island. "No one's going down, Seth. We just want an explanation as to why Summer spent the night when your mother and I have made it perfectly clear that we didn't approve of that. Being the trustworthy and open-minded parents we are, we thought you deserved a chance to explain before jumping straight into the sentencing."

"That's very thoughtful of you, and as a matter of fact, I actually do have a very good explanation for this."

"That's great, Seth," Sandy urged. After a pause, Sandy spoke again: "Do you think we can hear it?" he asked slowly.

Seth grimaced. "Oh, you want to hear it?"

Sandy and Kirsten nodded.

"It's not just enough for you guys to know that I have a really good explanation," he asked hopefully.

Sandy and Kirsten shook their heads.

It really did scare Seth sometimes, how alike they were.

"Right, well ya see, Summer just came over to hang out," Seth started. He pondered how to approach the next part. "And, I'm not gonna lie to you. We did spend some time in my room and there was some kissing, but it didn't go very far."

Both his parents displayed skeptical looks. "I know what you're thinking. 'Teenage boy, alone with his girlfriend. 'My ass it didn't go very,' right? But I speak the truth."

"Seth, you have to admit, that's pretty hard for us to believe. You're a teenager, we know how your mind works," Sandy stated.

"Your right. But, you see, Ryan came in about twenty minutes after Summer got here and told us that _The Godfather _was on, so we decided to watch that instead."

Kirsten gaped at her son in disbelief. "Seth," she exhaled in an exasperated tone, "You made your girlfriend watch _The Godfather_."

"What? It's a good movie!" Seth said in his defense.

Kirsten couldn't believe it. Sometimes men, especially Cohen men, could be so dense. "Sandy, trust him. If Summer has any respect for herself, nothing happened last night," Kirsten said dismissively, patting Sandy on the back and opening up the business section, her previous concerns of her sons activities of the night before completely gone.

"Well as sure of your verdict as you sound, I'm still not convinced why I should believe that nothing happened last night between our son and his girlfriend when she spent the night in his bed!" Sandy exclaimed, sounding a little beyond frustrated now.

"Listen, dad, Summer was pretty angry when I chose _The Godfather _over her, okay. The only reason she stayed to watch the movie was because she got in a fight with her stepmother and didn't want to go home. When it started storming, I didn't want her driving home in the rain so she just stayed here."

"You promise me nothing happened?"

Seth nodded.

"Good," Sandy said, relief evident. "Listen, I'm not stupid. I know what you've done and what you're going to keep doing. I understand. Your teenagers. You're young. You're lustful," Sandy said with an "I know all too well" look forming on his face. Seth cringed. "It's just, what kind of father would I be if I let it happen so knowingly under my own roof? At least with you two being so obvious and all. It would be shameful for me to just ignore all the blatant signs. I mean, have her at least park her car in the Cooper's drive way next time."

Seth just groaned and nodded his head that was buried in his hands.

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Summer walked into the kitchen a few minutes later nearly yelping at the sight of Mr. and Mrs. Cohen sipping coffee and eating their morning bagels at the kitchen island. Seth had assured her they were going to be out very late and, by default, waking up very late. He had been misleading her a lot lately.

"Morning, Summer," Sandy said in his usual upbeat tone as he looked up to take another bite of his bagel.

"Oh, Summer, Good morning. Would you like a bagel?" Kirsten asked, gesturing towards the basket holding the selection. "We have poppy seed. And there's coffee it's fresh," she added with a smile.

Summer just smiled nervously and shook her head. Did they know? What should she say? Where the hell was Seth?

"Actually, I'm not hungry. I'm just here to pick up Seth. That's why I'm here so early. Seth and I are going shopping. You have to get there early to get the best sales," she said meekly, as way of explanation.

"It's okay Summer, we know you spent the night. Seth explained everything. We understand," Sandy said before taking another bite of his bagel and returning to the local section of the newspaper.

Summer looked to Kirsten only to see her staring back with a sympathetic smile. "I completely sympathize with you sweetie. I don't know why they like that movie so much."

Summer just smiled and nodded awkwardly. Where the hell was Seth?

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"I don't think I have ever been that uncomfortable in my life," Summer said a few hours later in between bites of her Caesar salad.

After the embarrassing incident at the Cohen home, Summer had called Marissa from her car to tell her to meet her at South Coast Plaza for some therapeutic shopping. After three hours of shopping to mend the soul, they stopped for lunch at a small deli.

"Seth didn't even warn you?" Marissa asked after taking a sip of her bottled water.

"Seth wasn't even there!" she replied, obviously still angry. "He had gone out to the pool house to warn Ryan that he'd let it slip that you spent the night in the pool house," Summer added as an afterthought.

"Seth told the Cohens that I spent the night?" Marissa asked, clearly becoming angry with Seth for her own reasons.

"Yeah, he said that if he was going down for having a girl spend the night then Ryan definitely was, because Ryan does it all the time."

"I can't believe him! He tattled? What is he, eight!"

Summer stared at her friend's suddenly open show of hostility towards her boyfriend. "Coop, calm down. You were already long gone by the time Seth turned you in and Sandy said that he wasn't even going to bring it up if there was no proof."

"Summer, I know he's your boyfriend, but…" Marissa just shook her head, finishing the sentence with a well placed, "Hmmph."

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Summer finally returned to her own home at around 3:00 in the afternoon. To her relief, her father was at the office and her stepmother had already left to help the other newpsies set up for the charity event taking place that night. This week it was to raise funds to help the inner-city youth of Los Angeles. The actual event didn't start until eight and Summer and Seth were planning on being fashionably late.

That is, if they decided to go at all. Newport charity events had kind of lost their appeal to Summer over the last year. Considering everything that had gone down; what with the Cooper money laundering scandal, Marissa's overdose, Ryan in general, and her relationship with Seth, a weekly excuse to get drunk and show off her new Prada bag just lost some of its charisma. As hard as it was for even herself to believe, Summer would now rather spend her Saturday nights playing video games or reading the new Cosmo in Seth's room while he read comics. Hell, she would even rather watch stupid mafia movies with the few three-dimensional people in town rather than spend her night with the superficial plastics of Newport.

Summer walked into her room and threw her purse and bags on the bed. She began sorting through her purchases, pairing the new shirts she had bought with the new skirts and pants. She was facing the particularly difficult decision of coupling her new Abercrombie sweater with a pair of khakis, to go for the whole preppy but trendy look, or with a white mini, for the cute but sexy look, when the phone began to ring. She considered answering it for a second before figuring it was probably just Seth and if it was anything important, which usually was not the case, he could just leave a message.

The voice Summer heard after the beep however, though familiar, was not Seth's.

"Summer, it's Lillian. I'm just calling to remind you that it's time for our yearly dinner. I'm open next Saturday, so just give me a call to confirm and I'll make the reservations at the usual place."

Summer's body hit the bed as the beep signifying the end of the message sounded from the answering machine.

She sat dazed. She had completely forgotten that their dinner was coming up. She was usually well aware of and dreading these annual meetings at least a week before Lillian actually called to confirm. She liked to have time to mentally prepare herself. Having dinner with her grandmother was no easy feat.

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Seth chose to arrive at Summer's house about a quarter till nine. He had been planning on getting there around 7:30 to give Summer the option of getting there on time or not, but he had become engrossed in a particularly close and gruesome PlayStation match with Ryan and had lost track of time. He had completely forgotten about the charity event all together until Marissa came to the house bitching that they were supposed to be there in twenty minutes and Ryan had yet to even shower.

Needless to say, Ryan was showered, dressed, and out the door in ten minutes while Seth had just barely managed to lift himself off the couch and drag himself to the bathroom in that same amount of time. Thirty minutes later, he was out the door and on his way to Summer's.

Fifteen minutes later, Seth arrived at the Roberts home. The housekeeper let him in and he made his way up to Summer's room.

Seth found Summer's door slightly ajar when he reached her room and pushed it open to reveal Summer, in a snug fitting T-shirt and a pair of pajama shorts, lying stomach down on her bed watching _The Valley_. Seeing as _The Valley _aired its new episodes on Wednesdays at nine, Seth figured Summer must have popped in her copy of the first season on DVD. From the looks of it, she was only on episode eleven.

"Hey…" Seth spoke up to get her attention. "I know I'm running a little late, but did you really think I wouldn't show up?" he asked jokingly.

The confused look on Summer's face was the only answer he got. He gestured towards her evening attire with his eyes to clarify what he had meant.

"Oh," Summer glanced down at her outfit. "Yeah, um, actually I decided I'm not really in the mood to go."

At this statement, Seth kicked off his shoes and did a semi-belly flop onto her bed. "Well, you'll get no complaints from me."

"Yeah, I didn't think so," Summer rewarded him with a half-hearted smile before turning her attention back to _The Valley_.

Seth stayed still for a few minutes while contemplating whether he really wanted to ask or not. He came to a hesitant decision on the latter and spoke up before he could talk himself out of it, "So… Is there a reason you decided not to go?" he asked cautiously.

Summer looked at him thoughtfully for a second before responding, "It's nothing, just some family problem. It's really not a big deal," Summer said, trying to dismiss the question with out letting him know that she was trying to avoid answering him.

Realization donned on Seth's face. "Oh, it's Amy again," he stated knowingly.

"Um, no actually."

At the reappearance of Seth's confused face, Summer caved.

She contemplated how to tell him before just giving up and reaching over to press play on the answering machine.

"Summer, it's Lillian. I'm just calling to remind you that it's time for our yearly dinner. I'm open next Saturday, so just give me a call to confirm and I'll make the reservations at the usual place."

"Wow, that was blunt," Seth responded after listening to the message.

Summer agreed with and unenthusiastic, "Hmm."

"Who was that?"

"My grandmother," Summer responded with the same lack of emotion as before.

Seth's face showed confusion again, "I thought your dad's parents were dead?"

"They are."

"Well, why would you have dinner with Amy's mother?" Seth asked, no logical reasoning coming to him.

Summer suddenly became fascinated with her fluffy, pink bedspread. She hesitated a few moments before she spoke: "She's my mom's mother," she stated softly.

"Your real--"

Summer cut him off, "Yeah."

"Wow," Summer nodded. "I had no idea you kept in touch with your mom's side of the family."

"Well, I don't really. It's just her," Summer informed him. "Actually, it can hardly be considered keeping in touch. She calls me once a year and we go to dinner for a few hours. I hate it, but my dad says that if she's making the effort to get to know me I can at least have dinner with her for a few hours every 365 days."

"What do you guys talk about?"

"Nothing important. School, my friends," she paused and thought for a second. "Mostly we talk about her and her millionaire pursuit of the moment. She's a total gold digger. She's been married like six times and all of her husbands have been rich and old. I don't even think she's ever made it to a fifth anniversary. They all died of old age after the first couple of years." Seth looked at her, his surprise evident. Summer continued, "I don't even think she married my grandfather. He died of a heart attack a few months before my mom was born. Lillian was actually pissed because he hadn't written her into his will yet."

"You have an interesting family Summer."

Summer just rolled her eyes and nodded in agreement.

"Anna Nichole's got nothing on her," she added as an afterthought.

"Do you ever talk about your mom?" Seth asked hesitantly.

"No," Summer answered quickly and indifferently. "It's kind of a taboo topic."

"Does she know where she is?"

"Yeah, Lillian's said enough to at least let my know that she talks to my mother on a monthly basis," Summer said with an edge of bitterness.

They sat quietly for a few minutes until Summer spoke up. "I hate going," she stated simply.

Seth looked at her sympathetically for a second. "I can understand why."

"It's just, I can't help thinking that every year, she's going back to my mother and giving her a status report," she continued slowly, "Telling her how I look, if I'm fat, how my grades are, if I'm popular-- Probably so she can decided whether or not she made a mistake when she left."

Seth stared at her intently for a minute before speaking: "Summer, screw them! They have no right to judge you. You're smart, and beautiful, and clever, and a hell of a lot more successful at everything you do than anything they've ever done in their entire lives. Summer, you're an amazing person. Who cares what a gold digger and deadbeat mom think of you? Why do you care?" Seth added the last part carefully.

"It's just, she's my mother and she left me," Summer answered quietly.

Seth had never seen her this vulnerable before. He knew she must hate feeling that way, and especially putting it out in the open like she was. Seth hated her mother for making Summer feel this insecure about herself; for making her doubt herself at all.

"I mean, I wasn't good enough for my own mother. She disliked me so much that she had to leave my father and me and not even tell us where she was going." She was almost near tears now and Seth certainly did not want to see her cry, not over someone as unworthy as her mother.

"Summer, if anything she wasn't good enough for you!" Seth said passionately. "There was nothing you could have done to make her stay. You didn't do anything wrong. She failed you as a mother."

Summer stared at Seth for a few moments before wrapping her arms around his waste and burying her face in his neck.

Seth just rubbed soothing circles on her back. He knew there was nothing else he could say to comfort her. The next best thing would have been comic relief but he felt it was probably inappropriate at this specific time. But that was okay, because Seth would never have a problem with just holding her.

A few minutes later Summer spoke up, just barely above a whisper. "Seth, do you think you can come with me?" she asked, pulling her head slightly away from him so he would be able to understand her.

"To dinner?"

He could feel Summer's weak nod against his chest.

"Yeah, of course," he said softly.

"Will you stay with me tonight?"

"Do you really think you have to ask that?" he answered with a small smirk.

This answer elicited a small smile from Summer in return. She tilted her head slightly upward to kiss the underside of his jaw before replacing her face back into the crook of his neck.

Seth stroked her hair and rubbed her back gently as he watched _The Valley_, which was still playing on Summer's TV.

Summer sighed softly into his neck. The dinner was still definitely going to suck, there was no doubt about that, but at least now she was going to have Seth with her. It never hurt to have reinforcements, and Seth was definitely good at supplying moral support and encouragement when she needed it.

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Thanks for reading and please review. I'd be happy to take any constructive criticism.


	2. chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own The O.C. and am not affiliated with it in any way. It's all property of Fox and the nice suits over there.

A/N: This takes around the current time of the show, the only difference is that the events of the finale didn't happen, and Theresa isn't pregnant.

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Summer examined herself in her full length mirror for the sixth time in one hour. Her hair and makeup still looked exactly the same; perfect. Her dress was still perfectly pressed. There was not a single flaw in her appearance. And yet, upon each inspection, Summer found some new imperfection that required her immediate attention.

"Summer, that is like the billionth imaginary wrinkle that you have smoothed out of your dress," Seth said exasperatedly. "You look perfect. There is not a single hair out of place. You looked perfect the last dozen times you looked in the mirror too. Stop trying to find something wrong. I don't think your grandmother is going to be _that_ critical."

Summer glared at Seth, who, at the moment, was sprawled out on her bed reading some obscure comic book. He had begun keeping a stash of his "graphic novels'' in her room for occasions such as this one. He had been ordered to show up at her house at a specific time only to end up sitting in complete boredom for an hour and a half while she made her finishing touches one too many times. Now, he was always prepared for Summer's last minute preparations.

"Cohen, you don't know my grandmother, okay. She's like… a hound; she can sniff out imperfections. And she's always ready to pounce when she finds even the slightest flaw. She was never one for subtlety."

"Ah… so you get that trait from your mom's side of the family." Seth knew it was no time for his jokes, but he was just not capable of passing up such an easy opportunity.

"You know, your sensitivity really amazes me sometimes Seth," she said sarcastically. "I'm freaking out and you're making jokes. I'm starting to understand why you never had friends before Ryan."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay," Seth said sincerely as he got up and walked to her side. "I know the joke was a little mistimed, but you're just so tense. Calm down, you look great. There's not a single flaw for her radar to even detect. She can't criticize you if everything about you is perfect."

Summer's eyes softened at Seth's last statement and she relaxed a little.

"Besides, the restaurant is forty-five minutes away and if you spend any more time looking in the mirror we'll be late." Seth said, successfully ruining the mood he had just created. "She may not be able to criticize your appearance but she can still criticize your punctuality."

Summer rolled her eyes and glared at him before grabbing her purse and heading for the door. Seth followed closely behind her.

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"I think I'm going to be sick."

"I told you not to drink those three Bacardis on an empty stomach."

"I can't eat when I'm nervous."

"No, but you can sure as hell drink quite a bit."

"Shut up, Cohen," Summer glared at him. "A little bit of alcohol helps to calm your nerves," she said defensively.

"That may be so," Seth agreed, "But, I'm guessing it hasn't done much to settle your stomach."

"How was I suppose to know it was going to make me sick?" was Summer's way of justifying it. "I can usually hold my alcohol."

"Yes, you can, but that's usually after you've had at least two meals. You didn't eat anything today."

"That's not true," Summer said defensively. "I had some of Ryan's Salt & Vinegar chips at the beach earlier today."

"And I'm sure that that's meshing real well with the alcohol right now." At the sound of Summer's groan, Seth decided changing the subject might be best for Summer's stomach at the moment.

"Look, Summer, I know how much this has to suck. And I know that you feel sick. And I know that you probably have a pounding headache right now too, but you have to do this. You can't let this woman intimidate you anymore." At the sight of the pathetic look on Summer's face, Seth decided to take a different approach. "Summer, it's only for a couple hours, and I'll be there. If the conversation veers in a bad direction I can just start talking about comic books again." At the appearance of Summer's perplexed face, Seth figured he should clarify further, "You know? Like I did with your dad. That way, all the negative focus will be directed towards me."

Summer buried her head in her hands and gave a loud groan in response. "Ugh… I don't want to do this, Seth," she moaned pitifully as she lifted her head and looked at him.

"I know," Seth said sympathetically as he reached over to rub Summers back comfortingly. "But I think it's one of those unfortunate times in life where you don't really have a choice. If you don't go, she's going to think that she actually has some kind of affect on you. You don't want her to get the idea that you think her opinion is actually worth worrying about, do you?" This last sentence was halfway intended to lighten Summer's mood; it was also halfway intended to enlighten Summer that Lillian's opinion was in fact, not worth worrying about at all.

Summer gave a partially convincing, "No," to Seth before opening the passenger side door of the Range Rover and slowly climbing out.

Seth got out and met Summer halfway around the front of the SUV where Summer took his hand and they walked toward the entrance of the upscale restaurant.

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Seth and Summer found the restaurant to be quite crowded when they entered and took their place at the end of the long line that was waiting to be seated by the hostess.

After a few minutes of silence, Summer turned to Seth. "Seth, you may have a family emergency in about an hour and a half. I think we'll have to leave immediately," she stated matter-of-factly with a few nods of her head, as if she had actually seen into the future and it was a sure fact that there would be a Cohen family emergency requiring Seth's and Summer's immediate exit from the restaurant in about ninety minutes.

"Wha…" Seth began to ask before realization dawned on him. "Oh right, yeah. Okay," Seth answered with a knowing nod. After a brief pause, Seth looked back to Summer with a curious look on his face. "So what, is my dog like going to suddenly die or something?"

"I was actually thinking more along the lines of a dead grandma or a car accident, but if you think you can work the dead dog angle… go right a-"

"Can I help you?" interrupted the sugary sweet voice of the hostess. Seth and Summer looked over to see an overly chipper young woman standing with a fake smile plastered to her face. Apparently the couple in front of them had been helped and it was now Seth's and Summer's turn.

"Yes, hi," Summer answered. "We're actually meeting someone. She should have made a reservation."

"Well just tell me the name and I'll be happy to check!" came the exaggeratedly cheerful reply.

Summer eyed the waitress before answering dully, "It should be under Lillian Bunt."

"_Bunt_?" Seth asked with a sour yet amused look on his face. "You're mother's maiden name was _Bunt_?"

Summer rolled her eyes before answering, "No, idiot. That was Lillian's _last_ husband's name,"

"Oh, got it."

"Okay, your acquaintance has already arrived and been seated. I'd be happy to lead you to her!" said the hostess as she grabbed two menus. "Just follow me!"

As they followed the hostess through the restaurant, Seth leaned towards Summer's ear and made sure they were out of earshot of the young woman before he speaking. "Okay, so you used to hang out with all the drug addicts… tell me, what's the opposite of speed, because she definitely needs to get on it."

Summer tried to stop the small snort that escaped her mouth but failed. The hostess turned to look at the pair curiously before Summer just dismissed her with an innocent smile.

The hostess came to a stop in front of a small window table that looked out over the ocean. Sitting next to the window on one side of the table a woman dressed in a simple black dress with a string of white pearls around her neck that matched the off-white color of her short, fluffy hair. In her left hand she held a half empty wine glass, and in the right, a cell phone. Seth was surprised at how similar she looked to the image of Summer's grandmother he had created in his head.

At the sound of Seth, Summer, and the hostess approaching, the woman looked up from her cell phone and immediately scanned the length of Summer's body from head to foot.

"Summer, there you are. I was just about to call you, I was starting to worry," Lillian said in false concern.

"Why were you worried? It's just now 7:00," Summer asked, somewhat confused.

"It's actually 7:05, dear," she responded condescendingly. "You must have set your clocks off. You really should fix that. It's not polite to keep people waiting."

"You're right," Summer answered meekly. "Sorry."

Lillian, though, had already moved on by the time Summer had finished with her apology. "Oh, sweetie, don't hunch. It makes you look ugly. When you stand straight, you look slimmer," she said with a smile.

Seth noted how Lillian said this last bit of advice as though she felt she was doing Summer a great favor by telling her in some indirect way that she looked fat; or whatever the opposite of slim might be in the old woman's messed up head. Seth, of course, thought this was crazy and had no idea what the hell was wrong with this woman's eyes or what demented place her opinion must have been coming from. Summer, in no way, ever looked anything less than slim and beautiful, and had never slouched a day in her life. In fact, Seth was pretty sure she must have come out of her mother perfectly straight with flawless posture.

To Seth's shock, Summer just smiled politely and nodded in agreement before sitting in the seat across from Lillian. Seth just sat down quietly in the seat next to Summer.

"So Summer, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend," Lillian asked, eyeing Seth appraisingly.

"Oh sorry," Summer said quickly, looking from her grandmother to Seth. "This is Seth," she said putting a hand on the back of his shoulder. Seth gave a small smile in greeting. "He's my boyfriend."

"Really? I don't remember you mentioning anything about bringing a boyfriend when we talked last week."

"I asked you if you would mind if I brought a friend," Summer reminded her respectfully.

"There's a difference between a friend and a boyfriend."

"Well, Seth is my _friend_… my _boyfriend_."

"There's no need to be smart, Summer," Lillian said snippily.

"I wasn't trying to be, I was just trying to clear up a misunderstanding," Summer said meekly. "I'm sorry if a gave you the wrong idea," she said in defeat.

"Yes, well…" Lillian dismissed it with a wave of her hand.

"So tell me, how's everything else going? Is school going well?" Lillian asked, feigning some interest in something other than making Summer feel two feet tall.

"Schools actually out for the summer, but it was going good."

"Well that's nice."

Summer nodded. They sat in silence for a few moments, all trying desperately to find something to say or something to distract them. Luckily for them, a distraction came in the form of a middle-aged waiter.

"Good evening. My name is Samuel, I'll be your server tonight. Can I get you anything to drink?" he asked in the direction of Seth and Summer, seeing as Lillian already had her drink.

"I'd just like a glass of water," Summer answered.

"Can I have a Mountain Dew, please?" Seth spoke up for the first time since sitting down.

"And for you, miss?" he now asked in the direction of Lillian. "Would you like another glass of wine? Something else?"

"I'd just like a glass of water on the side, please," she responded curtly, not even looking in the man's direction.

Samuel gave them a kind smile before promising that he would return in a few minutes with their drinks.

"So, what do you plan on doing over your break?" She directed the question towards both of them.

"Nothing special," Summer answered. "We'll probably go to the beach a lot. And there's summer reading for AP English that I have to do." Seth wondered if Summer even knew what the summer reading list was. Seth was not even positive if Summer knew if there was a reading list or if she was just saying it because it sounded good. He knew better to ask at that moment, though .

"Seth, was it?" Seth looked up to see Lillian staring at him questioningly from the other side of the table. Seth nodded in answer to her question. "What is it that you plan on doing this summer?"

"Well," Seth began cautiously, "Like Summer said, We'll probably go to the beach a lot, and there's that summer reading." Seth thought for a second before continuing a little more excitedly, "And I love sailing, so I'll probably be out on my boat a lot."

"Oh, you sail?" Lillian asked, sounding genuinely interested. "My late husband used to sail."

Seth was about to ask which one but thought better of it and just nodded. "What kind of boat did he have?"

Seth asked in an attempt to keep the conversation going on a light note.

"Oh, I wouldn't know. All I know is that it was big," she laughed. "He used to sail everywhere. He'd be gone for weeks at a time on his little sailing expeditions. Sometimes even months." She paused to remember before continuing, "I remember his favorite place to go was Tahiti. God, I think he must have gone there six or seven times in the few years of retirement he was actually able to enjoy."

Seth's eyes bulged at this information. He obviously had never known this late husband of Lillian's, but Seth figured he must have been somewhat cool to love sailing and, more specifically, love sailing to Tahiti. Seth could not quite understand why a seemingly cool guy like that would marry such a dull and superficial woman like Summer's grandmother.

Seth decided not to dwell on this thought though, and, instead, chose to continue with the discussion about sailing, "You know, it's one of my dreams to sail to Tahiti."

Lillian just acknowledged Seth's statement with a polite nod and small smile before taking a sip of her wine. She had obviously not liked the focus of the conversation shifting from her to something else.

Seth decided it might be best to keep the conversation focused on her if he had any hope of keeping the conversation from slipping into more unbearable minutes of awkward silence.

"So, did you ever go sailing with him?" Seth asked after she put her glass down. Seth hoped that asking about her would pique her interest in the conversation again.

Lillian smiled and nodded as she swallowed her sip. "Yes, he got me out on that boat quite a few times."

"Really," Seth sounded honestly surprised. "I wish I was that lucky. I've only gotten Summer out on my boat twice and she spent most of the time complaining," Seth said, shooting a glance in Summer's direction.

Summer just rolled her eyes in response.

"So you've taken my granddaughter out sailing with you?" Lillian asked skeptically.

"Yes, but I'm always very safe, and I never go more than a few miles off shore," Seth answered quickly, hoping to put a stop to whatever doubts may have been building in Lillian's head. "And I'm very responsible. I would never do anything that could put Summer into any kind of danger," he said firmly.

"And your boat's safe? It's in good condition?"

"Yes, it's very safe," Seth said assuredly.

Summer wondered where Seth's confidence in the safety of his boat had come from. She had seen his boat, and in her mind it was little more than a nice raft that happened to have a sail on it. Usually, she would have brought this point to Seth's attention right away just to bother him, but she didn't want to give Lillian any ammunition. Seth actually seemed to be doing pretty well with her and Summer wanted to keep it that way.

"That's good to know, Seth. You can never be to careful with precious cargo."

"I completely agree," Seth said with a single nod and a small smile in Summer's direction. "I certainly wouldn't want anything to happen to my boat's namesake, now would I." It had seemed like an innocent enough statement when he had first said it, but judging by the sudden change of expression on Lillian's face, Seth knew that he had just opened him self up to a whole barrage of uncomfortable questions.

Summer knew this too and braced herself for the inundation.

"You named your boat after Summer?" she asked Seth pointedly.

"Yes ma'am, I did," Seth said confidently. After all, you were never suppose to show a predator that you were afraid.

"I had no idea that you two were that serious?" she questioned, this time in Summer's direction.

"We are," Summer stated simply, with the same confidence Seth that had spoken. Summer knew that the seriousness of hers and Seth's relationship was actually a big question for both of them at the moment, but she was not about to let any of that doubt show in front of her grandmother. Besides, Summer was positive that the relationship was definitely more serious than either of them had anticipated and that definitely counted for something.

"How long have you two been an item?" Lillian directed the question at both of them, still relatively calm.

"A little over four months," Summer's answer to this question lacked some of the confidence that she had had when answering the other question."

Lillian appeared a little calm after hearing Summer's answer. "It's a little soon to be so serious about each other, don't you think?" she more told them than actually asked. "You're both still in high school and you're already naming things after each other? I think that's a little much for being so early into the relationship," she said exasperatedly.

"I know it may seem a little fast to you, but I've known your granddaughter for a long time." That wasn't a total lie. Seth had known, and _liked_, Summer since the first grade. Now whether or not Summer had really known him for that long… "And I've cared about her for as long as I can remember knowing her. In fact, I named my boat after her long before we ever even became friends."

Seth realized that his last statement came out sounding a lot more stalkerish than he had intended. He thought it would make him sound sweet and devoted. After hearing, it, Seth decided that it actually made him sound obsessive and just a little creepy.

Seth could tell by the looks on the other two faces that they agreed with his second interpretation of his declaration.

"You named your boat after her before you even became friends?" she repeated what Seth had said as though she did not quite comprehend what he had meant. "You're telling me you named your boat after her before you even _knew_ her?" Lillian said condescendingly. "I don't mean to be rude, but they put some people in jail for behavior like that!" Lillian said to Seth in disgust before turning to Summer. "Did you know this? Does _your father _know this?"

"You're blowing this way out of proportion," Summer said, becoming slightly annoyed at the way that Lillian was talking about her boyfriend. "That's just the way Seth is. It was nothing more than a sweet gesture, nothing scary or questionable about it." Summer said it confidently, as if it were fact and there was nothing left to debate about it.

Lillian obviously felt there was still plenty to discuss about it though, because she continued as if she had never even heard what Summer had just said. "Sweetheart, I know he's your boyfriend so you must see something in him, but that is _not _normal behavior," she said this with the confidence of a licensed mental health professional.

"How would you know what normal behavior is!" Summer stated more than asked. Her voice had risen and taken on a tone similar to the slightly bitchy one she usually spoke with rather than the soft, insecure tone she had been speaking with earlier. "You marry rich old men who are about to croak, for a living! I'd say that behavior is a lot more questionable than a fourteen-year-old boy naming his first boat after a girl he has a crush on!"

"Excuse me," Summer turned her head swiftly in the direction that she had heard the hesitant voice come from and saw the waiter standing with their tray of drinks. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have your drinks," he said as he motioned to the tray balanced on his hand with his eyes.

Summer just gave a quick, "Thank you," as he set her water down in front of her.

Seth sat in silence as his Mountain Dew was placed in front of him, while Lillian gave a slight nod when Samuel handed her a glass of water.

After a few moments of silence, Lillian finally spoke up, "I don't think I have ever been that humiliated in my entire life," she said in a low voice, not looking up from her water.

"Funny, because I don't remember ever being as humiliated to be related to someone as I am to be related to you right now," Summer said pointedly. "And my stepmother is an alcoholic addicted to prescription painkillers. She has definitely caused her share of humiliating scenes."

"You're the only one who caused a scene tonight Summer Roberts. I don't know what's gotten into you, but you are being very disrespectful and I want it to stop right now. Your mother would be appalled at your behavior. I'm sure if she was around, she would teach you some proper manners."

"Excuse me?" Summer asked in pure shock. "What righ--"

"If her mother was around, she would be a hell of a lot worse than she is right now. Especially if her mother was raised by you." Seth had been perfectly fine with the woman insulting him, he could care less what she thought of him, but when she started insulting Summer, who was nothing but perfect in his eyes, it was just natural for him to jump to her defense.

"What did you just say?" Lillian dared Seth to repeat his sentiment.

"I said that Summer did a hell of a better job raising herself than you or your daughter could have ever done raising a kid."

"You are way out of line young man," she replied as she pushed her chair back and stood. "It's becoming quite obvious where my granddaughter's sudden change of personality is coming from. You have absolutely no respect for anything and your attitude is starting to rub off on my granddaughter."

"You're wrong," Seth said as he also stood. "I just don't have any respect for you. And as for me rubbing off on your granddaughter; that's crap. Summer has a mind of her own; it's one of the things that I respect most about her. She would never change her personality because of me; or anybody else for that matter! She has too much respect for herself to do that. And, to be honest, I don't think I would like her half as much as I do if she was that easily influenced by someone else!"

"If that's true, why is it that every other time I have seen Summer, she has been nothing but respectful and well mannered."

"Maybe she hasn't changed at all. Maybe she just finally realized that it's not worth her effort to be polite and respectful to someone as insignificant as _you_!" and with that last sentence, Seth fell back in to his chair as if to say he was finished.

"Summer, I am not going to sit here and be degraded by an arrogant teenage boy just to have dinner with you… I'm going home," Lillian said, her face set in stone. "If you want to have speak to me, you know my number. I won't be making anymore attempts to keep in touch with you. I can see that my efforts to be involved in your life have become unappreciated. Goodbye." Her attempt to salvage what was left of her dignity was lost when she looked Summer in the eyes for a good ten seconds and still failed to intimidate her into submission like she had done so many times before.

Lillian grabbed her purse from the table and gave one last glance in Summer's direction before quickly turning from the table and walking hastily towards the front of the restaurant.

Seth and Summer sat in silence for a few more moments before Summer pushed back her chair and stood up. "Let's go home," she said simply and then stared at Seth expectantly.

Seth stood, pulled out his wallet, and put down a twenty to pay for the drinks. Once the money was down, Summer grabbed his hand and he followed her out of the restaurant in silence.

Halfway through the parking lot, Summer stopped suddenly and turned to Seth. Seth looked at her curiously, but Summer just stood silently and continued to stare at him intently. Seth was about to ask her if she had left something in the restaurant but never got the chance, because suddenly Summer's lips were on his and she was kissing him.

And then of course, Seth was kissing her back because he was never one to throw away an opportunity to kiss Summer Roberts; even if she was his girlfriend. Summer had a habit of changing her mind, and Seth was terrified that one day she was going to realize how much better she could do and change her mind about him. With that fear always fresh on his mind, Seth tried to take advantage of every opportunity concerning Summer that presented itself to him; including every chance he had to kiss.

Unfortunately for Seth, the kiss ended just as suddenly as it had started. Within another second though, Summer had her arms wrapped around Seth's waist and her head buried against his chest. Seth didn't say anything in response to Summer's actions, mainly because he had no idea _what_ to say. Instead of speaking, he just held her in the middle of the parking lot for an unknown amount of time as cars honked and drove around them.

Seth had completely zoned out when he finally heard Summer speak. "Thank you," she said quietly as she pulled away, her head bent in what seemed like shame or embarrassment. Seth wasn't sure if it was either or both.

"For what?" he asked as he lifted his left hand to her hair and ran his fingers through the strands gently.

Summer hesitated for a few moments before finally raising her head to look at him and speaking, "For everything… for what you said in there; for _not _saying anything just now; for understanding."

"I'm not exactly sure what you mean," Seth said cautiously.

"Seth," Summer slightly whined, exasperated that Seth was going to make her come out and say what she had meant instead of just interpreting it on his own like he usually did. When Seth showed no sign of giving in, Summer finally conceded. "It's just, I'm not used to being insecure about anything. And I'm certainly not used to having to have someone come to my rescue." She paused before she continued, "And it's kind of embarrassing to me when I'm used to people seeing me as stronger and more confident than I was in there," she hesitated, "I… I just appreciate you not saying anything about it or thinking less of me because of the way I acted around her," she said lowering her head again." "I don't know why I always let her intimidate me like that," Summer finished shamefully, like she felt as if she owed him some kind of an excuse for her behavior but had none.

"Summer," Seth said has her brought his hand to the side of her faced and raised it so he could look into her eyes. "First of all, you don't have to have an excuse; you didn't do anything wrong. And secondly, I would never think less of you for any reason, and certainly not for this. If anything, I think I have more respect for you now. Summer," he said as her cupped her shoulders. You're not prohibited from being vulnerable just because you're a strong person. And being a strong person doesn't mean you can't be insecure about something or intimidated by anything. The way you handled her in spite of feeling the way you did just proves how strong of a person you really are. I don't think anybody else could have handled a situation that fucked-up as well as you did for as long as you did. I know I couldn't have."

Summer lifted her eyes to look at him but said nothing. Seth had no idea how she had taken speech until she reached up and kissed him gently. When she pulled away, she looked somewhat more content but still lacked the usual confidence that she possessed. Seth would take it though. He removed his hands from either side of her face and wrapped his right arm around her shoulder.

They finally reached the Range Rover about fifteen minutes after they had originally exited the restaurant. Seth walked with Summer to the passenger side and leaned down to kiss her temple before sliding his arm from around her shoulder and opening the door for her; not because Summer was so distraught that she could not do it herself, but simply because he was Seth Cohen and it was just in his nature to do cheesy things like that. Usually Summer would make a sarcastic remark, but this time she only had the mental strength for a weak eye roll in his direction as she moved passed him and climbed into her seat.

Seth came around the other side and heaved himself into the driver's seat with an exaggerated sigh. "Well, that was definitely more eventful than the Saturday nights we've been having around Newport lately. There hasn't been any drama around of late to keep us entertained. I think this was a nice change of pace," he said with a nod as if her were agreeing with himself.

Summer just shot him a questioning look before just rolling her eyes and laughing lightly.

After pulling out of the parking lot and getting settled on the maid road, Seth continued, "I'm pretty wiped out though," he said with a mock yawn. "I think I'm just gonna go home and crash."

"It's not even 8:30."

"Now it's only 8:30, but by the time we get home it'll be around 9:30 and that's a good time for a growing boy like me to go to bed."

Summer just stared at him perplexed for a minute before replying coolly, "That's a shame, because my parents are staying the night in LA for some party one of my dad's clients is throwing and I'm going to be home alone. I was actually going to see if you wanted to come over and…" Summer trailed off suggestively, "But if you're tired…"

"Well, I'm not _that_ tired. I think a cup of coffee could do wonders for me. You know, wake me up and energize me for more _productive _pursuits," Seth accented his last statement with a raise of his eyebrows.

"Well, okay then. I guess you're coming over," Summer said as she sat back in her chair.

"So, I take it this invitation means that you've gotten over your little "protest"?" Seth asked as he took his hands off the wheel quickly to make finger quotes.

Summer feigned confusion before looking at Seth and putting a hand to her mouth in mock realization. "Oh, you thought I was inviting you over for sex?" she asked, her voice dripping with condescending pity. "Seth, I wanted you to come over to unclog my bathroom sink," she stated, as if he should have known.

Seth just rolled his eyes and continued to look at the road, a soft red tint coming over his face.

"Seth, you're still welcome to come over. Maybe after you fix my sink, we can cuddle," she teased him.

"I think I would rather just go home and sleep," he said dully, clearly not amused.

"You know, Seth, there is a chance that we could still end up…" she trailed off, "You know…" she finished innocently.

Seth glanced over at her, his interest suddenly piqued again. "Oh, yeah? How big of a chance?" he asked skeptically.

"Well it really all depends on how a feel when we get to my house." She was not going to showhim any sympathy at all.

"Well, at the moment, how big of a chance do you _feel_ I have?" He was trying to keep the frustration out of his tone.

"At the moment, I'd say you have a 60/40 shot," she said, showing him a little mercy.

Summer did not get the response she had expected, though.

"A 60% chance I'm going to end up cleaning your drain for nothing? Yeah, I think I'd rather just go home and sleep," he said with a final nod, turning his head back to the road and leaving Summer with her mouth hanging open.

Summer had not been expecting him to pull something like that. Judging from his behavior over the last week, he was getting pretty restless. In fact, Summer had been almost positive he would have been more than willing to sacrifice his pride if it meant getting off of her "probation" and back into her bed. Apparently, he had more dignity than she had thought.

Summer was very hesitant about revealing that she was starting to feel the effects of _his_ punishment just as badly as he was, but eventually decided to swallow her own pride. She had been planning since Wednesday that tonight would be the night she let Seth back into her good "bedroom" graces. She had neglected to realize how eager she had actually become until her plan to make Seth grovel a little bit backfired. Now she was going to have to be doing the begging. Hopefully Seth would be more lenient on her than she had been planning on being towards him.

Summer subtly pushed her dress up her thigh and slid closer to Seth.

Seth noticed, but tried his best not to acknowledge it. It was quite obvious to him that Summer was playing some kind of game. If he let his resolve break so soon by acknowledging her move, there was no way he would win; and he desperately wanted to win. Summer always won and he wanted to make her break just once.

Summer noticed the look of determination set on his face and realized this battle was going to be a little more difficult to win than the previous ones. She concluded that she would have to resort to more physical methods to get him to break.

She slid her hand across the center console separating them and placed it on his lower thigh, just above his knee. He glanced down at it quickly before he could stop himself, but immediately turned his gaze back to the road. Summer though, delighted in the small victory. She had seen the look of panic that flashed in his eyes at the sight of her hand.

She began rubbing just the lower part of his thigh gently before asking innocently, "Seth, are you okay? You seem a little tense."

"I'm fine," he snapped. He had not meant to sound so mean, but he knew that he had to say it like he actually believed it or else there would be no way in hell that Summer would believe it.

Summer went on as though Seth had said nothing though. If anything, it had just made her own resolve stronger. Her hand slowly began working its way up Seth's thigh and she felt him tense more. "Seth, what's wrong? Do you want me to stop?" she asked in a tone that practically dared him to say 'yes'.

Seth clenched his teeth and responded with a firm, "No."

Summer just grinned and continued inching her way towards the final destination. Seth dreaded her reaching , but at the same time thought he might die if she went any slower.

When Summer's fingertips finally grazed him, he was unable to hold in the moan that escaped his lips.

At the sound of his moan, Summer also lost her a large portion of her resolve. She decided to cut the bullshitting and get straight to the point before they both lost the game.

"Seth, just give up," she leaned over and whispered hoarsely in his ear as she continued to rub him.

Seth wanted to. So badly. But he refused. Summer had done this to herself and there was no way he was going to sacrifice his dignity just so she could keep hers.

Summer was utterly shocked when Seth bit his bottom lip, and reached down and removed her hand from him. She could not believe that he was actually holding out for as long as he was. He had a hell of a lot more willpower than she had ever thought. Unfortunately for Summer, this only served to turn her on more.

She actually considered giving in for a few seconds before another, still self-sacrificing, but not quite as humiliating, idea came into her had.

"Seth, you know if you make me say, it's not going to happen," she said matter-of-factly. He simply cringed and nodded in reply. There was silence for a few moments before Summer turned completely towards him. "Seth, why don't we just call it a draw?" she asked as she put her had back on his thigh. "That way, we both keep some dignity and neither of us end up suffering." she propositioned him very professionally.

Seth considered her for a moment as he stared at the road in front of him before nodding once in silent agreement without even turning to look at her. He was still biting his lip painfully hard and he did not trust his voice not to crack if he actually spoke.

Seth had finally won; kind of, anyway. He was not going to let his victory slip away by talking. Summer always automatically won by default whenever his voice went.

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Thanks for reading and please review. I'd be happy to take any constructive criticism.


	3. chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: I said before that the season finale never happened which means Julie and Caleb haven't been married yet. Their wedding takes place this chapter.

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"It's just completely wrong on so many different levels," Marissa said to the reflection of Summer in her full length mirror. She was in the process of straightening her hair for the wedding ceremony that would be taking place in a few hours. Summer just nodded in agreement from her spot on Marissa's bed. "I mean, the man is old enough to be my grandfather…" Marissa paused for a moment before continuing, "He _is_ your boyfriend's grandfather. And Seth is older than me!" Marissa stated her latest realization with a look of disgust. "Eww," she added solemnly.

"Coop, it's not that bad," Summer tried to comfort. "I mean, Caleb _is_ better than Luke," Summer said in an attempt to get a rise out of Marissa.

Marissa only glared at Summer's reflection in response.

Summer knew Marissa's glare was justified and gave her an apologetic smile along with a weak, "Sorry, bad timing."

Marissa just shrugged it off and started her rant again, "And what's even more wrong is that my father, my mother's ex-husband, almost married my mother's new husband's daughter. The woman who could have been my mother, is now going to be my stepsister. And if my dad and Hailey get married, She's going to be my stepsister and stepmother at the same time. I can't exactly place it, but I'm pretty sure there's some incest going on in there somewhere."

Summer raised her eyebrows, "Marissa, aren't you over reacting a little." Summer got up from the bed and walked to stand next to Marissa in front of the mirror. "Of course when you look at it that way it's going to sound sick, and weird, and… incest," she said, looking Marissa's reflection in the eye, "But if you just look at it as a coincidence that your mother happens to be marrying your dad's ex-girlfriend's…, and current girlfriend's, father, it just sound like a very bizarre twist of fate."

"That's easy for you to say. You're not the one who's mixed up in the middle of it all. I may have to introduce Caleb as my stepfather and grandfather at the same time," Marissa said exasperatedly. "People are going to think were from Alabama, or Kentucky, or some other hick state."

"That's not true. Stuff like this happens on soap operas all the time." Marissa just raised her eyebrows at Summer in confusion. "We'll, no soap operas are set in those kinds of places. They're like all in New England. And no one ever thinks that the people on soap operas are inbred hicks, they just think they're corrupt rich people, which, face it, describes your mom and Caleb perfectly," Summer explained.

Marissa shook her head slightly at Summer's ramble before turning her attention back to her hair.

Summer had just sat back down on the bed when Marissa suddenly turned to Summer.

"What?" Summer asked after a few moments of silence.

"I think I need a drink," Marissa stated simply as she set the iron down, her hair only three fourths of the way done, and headed towards her door.

Summer was up and at Marissa's side in a matter of seconds. "Uh uh, I don't think so. There is no way I am letting you go to your mother's wedding drunk. I'm not going to let you embarrass yourself like that," Summer said as she stepped in from of Marissa, effectively blocking her exit.

"Summer, move," Marissa said, slightly annoyed, slightly amused. "I'm not going to get drunk. I just want something to calm me down a little. There's no way I'll make it through this wedding and keep my sanity if I don't have something to drink."

Summer looked at her skeptically. "You promise you won't get drunk?"

"I promise. I'll just have enough to get me in a calmer mood. Then I'll stop," Marissa said sincerely.

"Okay," Summer conceded. "But be careful, Coop. You know if you show up to her wedding drunk, your mom won't think twice about shipping you to some rehab facility in San Diego, and that would suck because then the only people I would have to hang out with would be Cohen and Ryan, and Ryan would be all broody because you were gone and Cohen would be all depressed because Ryan was depressed, and--"

"Summer, chill. I'll be careful," Marissa assured her as she walked out her bedroom door and down the stairs toward the dining room. "You know, I really don't think it would hurt for you to start hanging out with other people besides Seth, though. You're starting to pick up some of his less flattering habits: namely rambling and sarcasm."

"We'll the same could be said for you. The brooding you've been doing around here for the past month could rival Ryan's," Summer responded as she followed Marissa down the stairs.

"You're right. We both spend entirely too much time with our boyfriends," Marissa said with an affirmative nod. "I think I have even heard Seth say 'Eww' a few times," Marissa smirked. She made her way through the dining room to her dad's liquor cabinet. She gave the handle a hard, upward tug and the door opened. Jimmy always kept the cabinet locked but it was not made with the best craftsmanship. A tug in the right direction and Marissa had no problem getting into the stash.

"We should totally go on a trip or something. Just the two of us, without the boys," Marissa heard Summer say from behind her as she bent down to pick out what she wanted.

Marissa grabbed a bottle of vodka, then stood and turned around to face Summer. "When?" she asked as she made her way into the kitchen.

"I don't know." Summer shrugged, then thought for a second, "It's summer so we could pretty much go whenever."

"We'll how about next week," Marissa said as she opened the refrigerator and took a carton of orange juice out. "Caleb has a penthouse apartment in New York that he stays at when he has to do business out there," Marissa paused while she got a glass from one of the cabinets and filled it three fourths of the way full with orange juice, and then filled it the rest of the way with vodka. She stirred it as she continued, "He tried to get on my good side by offering to fly me and my friends there to stay for a week. I was pissed off at the time so I told him no, but I could always just say I changed my mind. Next week would be perfect too; I'll be able to skip the honeymoon period."

"New York sounds great, but I can't go next week. I already promised Seth I would sail with him to Catalina next week. We were going to stay there for a few days before we sailed back. We already made hotel reservations." Summer explained with a hint of enthusiasm. At the curious look that appeared on Marissa's face, Summer's expression quickly turned more somber. "Sorry," she said meekly, "Maybe the week after."

Marissa raised her eyebrows. "You're going to sail all the way to Catalina?" she questioned skeptically. "You complain when Seth makes you go out for a few hours."

"I know, but we'll only be sailing for like a day. And we'll get to spend three days alone in Catalina without his parents constantly watching us or my dad constantly insulting him," Summer explained her reasoning. "Besides, it could be kind of romantic to spend some time alone with him away from Newport," Summer added casually.

"Are you listening to yourself," Marissa asked as she took a sip of her drink. "When did Summer Roberts become so soft? For five of the eleven years I've known you, you have been dating, and you never once cared about spending romantic alone time with your boyfriend." Marissa took pleasure from the growing red tint that grew in Summer's cheeks. Summer had always been the one that taunted Marissa for being so soft and mushy over Luke. The way Marissa saw it, she was just paying Summer back.

"But those other boyfriends were never serious, Coop. We were always just having fun. I think Seth is the first boyfriend I've had that lasted longer than a month," Summer said this as if she was just realizing it for the first time herself.

"So I guess you guys are getting pretty serious?" Marissa asked, relenting on the teasing for a moment.

"I guess," Summer said thoughtfully, not really sure about the answer herself.

"Well, have you guys talked about it?"

"Not really. We've both been pretty happy lately and we don't want to jinx it by talking about it."

"Yeah, but if you don't talk about it, won't things get weird?"

"No," Summer said simply. "Cohen and I are both very good at avoiding those kind of awkward questions."

"Summer, that's not good for a relationship," Marissa reprimanded.

"But part of the reason things are so good between us is because we don't get too deep. If we start talking about getting serious and our future, things will become tense and uncomfortable. I don't want that to happen; I like our relationship how it is now." Summer was close to pouting.

"Summer, it's obvious that you're starting to develop strong feelings for him. I don't want you to get hurt or lose him just because you didn't want to tell him that you might be falling in lo-"

"Coop, don't you dare say it!" Summer cut Marissa off before she could finish.

"Summer, it's kind of obvious," Marissa enlightened her. "Ryan's noticed it too. _He_ mentioned something a few weeks ago."

"You've been talking about this with Ryan for weeks and you haven't even said anything to me about it?" Summer asked sounding indignant.

"We haven't been talking about it," Marissa said as she shook her head. "He just casually mentioned something that night when there was that really bad storm and I simply agreed. We didn't say much else about it. Ryan's not a man of many words if you haven't noticed."

"Well, what did you guys say?"

"He just said it looked like you guys were getting pretty serious. I said I agreed, and then he said he wondered if you guys had said _'it_' yet."

"What's 'it'?" Summer asked raising her eyebrows.

"You know... 'I lo-'"

"Got it," Summer interrupted.

Marissa nodded. "So have you even thought about it on your own?"

"Kind of, but I haven't thought that deep into it."

"Do you think you could be…" Marissa trailed off, seeing as Summer would freak out if she actually tried to say the three words again.

"I don't know," Summer said shaking her head in somewhat of a daze.

"Well, at least you know how Seth feels," Marissa said, finishing off her drink and walking towards the refrigerator to put the orange juice away.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he's been in love with you since the third grade. I think if you told him how you feel-" Summer's head snapped up and she glared at Marissa. "_If _you do feel that way about him…," Marissa added, "He would probably share the same feelings."

"He's been in love with the _idea_ of me since the third grade. His feelings could have changed now that he's gotten to know the real me," Summer reasoned.

"Do you really think that could have happened?" Marissa asked.

"I don't know, I told you we don't talk about feelings," Summer whined. She was starting to resemble a confused little kid who was being interrogated for breaking a stupid little rule.

"Well regardless of Seth's lack of verbal expression of his feelings, I see the way he looks at you. Judging by that, I'd say nothing's changed," Marissa assured Summer.

"Ahh, thanks Coop," Summer said as she wrapped her arms around Marissa in an exaggerated hug.

"So does this mean you're going to talk to him?" Marisa asked as she pulled away from Summer.

Summer pondered the thought for a moment. "Umm… No, I don't think so," Summer replied as she patted Marissa's shoulder as she left the kitchen.

By the time Marissa had gathered her thoughts enough to respond, Summer was already waiting for her in the foyer. "Coop, let's go. We're gonna be late," she called as Marissa grabbed her hand bag from the dining room table and made her way towards Summer, who was standing with the front door open waiting to usher Marissa out.

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"Hey," Seth greeted Summer as him and Ryan made their way towards her and Marissa after the wedding ceremony.

"Hey," Summer relied as she allowed Seth to wrap his arms loosely around her waste and place a kiss on her forehead.

"I didn't get the chance before the ceremony to tell you how beautiful you looked," Seth complimented her as he removed his arms from around her waste and took one of her hands in his.

Summer smiled. "Thank you. You look pretty too," She added with a smirk.

"Just pretty?" Seth asked in mock hurt. "I was going for drop dead gorgeous."

"Maybe next time Seth," Ryan smiled as he clapped a hand over Seth's shoulder before walking away with Marissa.

"Marissa, you think I'm gorgeous don't you," Seth called after her. Marissa just turned around and rolled her eyes at him before continuing towards her dad and Hailey.

"I never liked her anyways," Seth said like a little kid as her he turned his attention back to Summer.

Summer just rolled her eyes but could not help the smirk that formed on her face.

Seth smirked too before switching to a more serious expression. "So, how's Marissa holding up?" he asked sincerely.

"Pretty good. She had a drink before we came here so I think that may have helped her handle the whole ceremony a little better."

"Wow," Seth breathed, "You know a family's screwed up when the daughter has to get drunk to come to her own mother's wedding."

"Shut up," Summer said as she swatted his arm. "She's not drunk, just a little more mellow than she would have been. She actually did Mrs. Cooper a favor if you think about it."

"Isn't it Mrs. _Nichol_ now?" Seth asked with a smirk.

"You're right," she said as she wrinkled her nose in distaste, "And she's you're grandmother now too, isn't she?"

"Eww," Seth said as wrinkled his nose too.

Summer smiled at his choice of word. "I think we may be spending too much time together."

"I think you may be right," Seth said seriously. "You've got me saying 'ew', I've got you dressing as comic book characters," Seth paused to see Summer's mouth drop open, "The second I start wearing Abercrombie & Fitch we may need to take a break."

"Deal," Summer said with an affirmative nod.

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"Marissa, sweetheart, Caleb wants to have a dance with you," Marissa heard her mother say from behind.

Marissa turned to see Julie walking towards her and Ryan. "I'm not really in the mood," Marissa dismissed her and turned her attention back to Ryan.

"Marissa, Caitlin already danced with him and it will look bad if you don't."

"I don't care."

"Marissa," she heard Caleb's voice call her name from behind. "How are you? I've been so busy today I haven't even gotten the chance to talk to my new stepdaughter."

"I'm fine," Marissa answered curtly.

"You know, Kirsten was showing me a picture of the new house your father was planning to buy with his share of _The Lighthouse _money. It's beautiful," Caleb said, never letting the fake sincerity in his voice slip. "I'm so happy he's finally getting back on his feet. I just hope everything continues to work out for him," He said pointedly, making the meaning of his words very clear to Marissa.

"Yeah," Marissa said meekly.

"So, Marissa, I was wondering if you would do me the honor of a dance?" He said with a smile that made Marissa want to slap him and Ryan want to punch him. "I know it would make your mother happy," He said as he glanced at Julie, who continued to remain silent.

Marissa glanced at her mother too and Julie smiled hopefully.

"Of course," Marissa said with fake sweetness as she glared at Caleb.

"Shall we?" Caleb asked simply as he held out his hand.

Marissa glanced at Ryan but knew there was nothing he could do. She reluctantly took Caleb's hand and allowed him to lead her to the dance floor.

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Summer watched from her seat next to Seth as Marissa and Caleb took the dance floor and everyone around "Awwed". Summer could see Marissa clenching her teeth the second her and Caleb began dancing. She looked absolutely miserable.

"Why is Marissa dancing with my grandpa?" Summer heard Seth ask from her side.

"My guess is Caleb reminded her of the generous price he paid for her dad's restaurant," Summer said coolly.

Seth and Summer watched Marissa dance the rest of the song, her expression of total hatred never changing.

When the song ended, they watched Marissa immediately push Caleb away from her and beeline it to the open bar, Ryan chasing closely behind her.

"What's she doing?" Seth asked.

"I'm thinking she changed her mind on the "no getting drunk" policy."

"Yeah, I know. It was a rhetorical question."

Summer just ignored Seth and watched as Marissa hastily told the bartender what she wanted before turning to Ryan, who was at her side saying something, and pushing him away from her. Summer could see Marissa say something that resembled, "Get the hell off of me," before finally shoving Ryan hard and walking away with the drink the bartender had just sat down in front of her.

"What the hell? He didn't even ask for ID," Seth said as he stood to get a better view of Ryan chasing after Marissa.

"Well, I guess that's one perk of being related to Caleb Nichol: everybody's too scared of getting fired to tell you 'no'." Summer stood and began walking in the direction that she had seen Ryan and Marissa go.

"That's crap. I'm his grandson and I never get perks like that," Seth complained as he followed Summer. "All I ever get is stupid invites to dumb ass events like this."

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Despite Ryan's and Summer's attempts to stop her, Marissa continued to drink for the rest of the reception. When Marissa went back for her third drink in one hour, Ryan finally told Marissa that she was being selfish and immature and if she kept drinking he was leaving. Marissa just handed him her car keys and said that he should drive it home because she was going to be too drunk later.

Ryan had looked hurt, but he just told Seth to make sure that Marissa got home safely before walking away.

"That was cold, Coop," Summer had said once Ryan was out of sight. "He was only trying to help you. You didn't have to be such a bitch to him."

"He wasn't trying to help, he was trying to control me; just like my mom and Caleb."

"Marissa, you're talking about Ryan. Do you really think he would try to do that?"

"Why are you defending him?" Marissa snipped. "You're a real shitty best friend if you're taking my boyfriend's side over mine."

"Yeah, well you're being a real shitty girlfriend and friend if you're going to get pissed at Ryan and Summer for trying to help you," Seth jumped in.

"Shut up, Seth," Marissa snapped. "This has nothing to do with you."

"I think if you're insulting my girlfriend and best friend it has _something_ to do with me."

"And what am I, Seth? I'm not you're friend?" Marissa asked bitingly. "Oh that's right, I forgot. You just hang out with me because of Ryan and Summer, right?"

"Basically, yeah," Seth answered bluntly.

"So why should I care if you take their side? If you piss Summer off you won't get any and if you piss Ryan off you'll lose your only real friend. Of course you're going to take their side."

"No, I'm taking their side because I think your being stupid and a complete bitch to your best friend and boyfriend."

"Do you really think I care what you think?"

"Coop," Summer finally cut into their verbal spar. "Why don't we just leave," she said trying to get control of the situation. "We can just go see a movie or go to the beach," she offered.

"No, Summer! Just leave me the hell alone," Marissa said grabbing her head. "And get your dumb ass boyfriend the fuck away from me!"

Summer just stared at Marissa for a moment before throwing her hands up in defeat and walking away. Seth just stared at Marissa in disgust for a moment before chasing after Summer.

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About an hour after the fight Seth and Summer sat silently at one of the tables. The guest were starting to dwindle and all that were left were the close friends and family of Caleb and Julie.

"I feel kind of bad," Summer finally spoke up softly.

"Me too," Seth said without looking up from the piece of confetti he had been playing with.

"She _is_ going through a hard time. You can't really blame her for being a little edgy."

"I know," Seth agreed. "But it's her own fault, she shouldn't have been drinking."

"I know," Summer nodded.

"Are you ready to go?" Seth asked as he placed his hand over her own that was resting on the table.

Summer just looked up and nodded.

"I have to go find Marissa. We promised Ryan we'd get her home safe," Seth said as he stood and kissed Summer on the forehead. "I'll meet you at the car?"

"Yeah."

Seth pushed his chair in before walking in the direction that he had last seen Marissa.

When Seth had no luck finding Marissa in the immediate vicinity of the party, he went to the bartender and asked him if he had any idea where the "tall, skinny girl" went. The bartender pointed Seth in the direction of a cluster of trees by the water.

When Seth had gotten a little closer, he found Marissa leaning up against one of the tress with an empty glass in her hand.

When she heard someone approaching, she turned in the direction and smiled at the sight of Seth. "Seth!" she said enthusiastically.

"Marissa," Seth said questioningly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm great," she said as she stood up a little straighter, placing some of her weight on her own feet instead of the tree.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, sure." Marissa said, stepping completely away from the tree and stumbling a little. Seth took a step forward and offered his arm for her to steady herself on. "Where are we going?" she asked after she regained her balance.

"Summer and I are taking you home." Seth hesitantly wrapped an arm around Marissa's waist and started helping her walk in the direction of the main party.

"Summer," Marissa slowly slurred. "Summer's mad at me, isn't she?" Marissa asked, sounding like a little kid.

"No, she was just worried about you," Seth answered sympathetically.

"Ryan's mad at me though," Marissa stated more than asked.

"Yeah, I think _he_ may be mad at you, yeah," Seth agreed.

"You're mad at me, right?"

"I'm mad at the way you treated Summer and Ryan." Seth chose his words carefully.

"I'm sorry I was mean to you, Seth," Marissa said as she stumbled when they reached the asphalt of the parking lot.

"It's okay, Marissa," Seth said indifferently.

"No, Seth, really. I was mean to you and I shouldn't have been," she said with wide eyes and a nod of her head. "I know me and you aren't really that close of friends, but I do like you, Seth," Marissa continued.

Seth just mentally rolled his eyes and sighed in relief when the Range Rover came into view. He did not think he could take much more of Marissa's drunken ramblings.

"Do you like me, Seth?" Marissa asked, staring Seth hard in the eye.

"Yeah," Seth said without looking at her.

"So you're not really just friends with me because of Ryan and Summer?"

"No," Seth lied.

"Good," Marissa said with a smile. "Because even before Ryan came I liked you."

Seth just nodded. He was barely listening to her as he slowly dragged her closer to the SUV. He could see Summer waiting in the passenger seat.

"I know I never really showed it and I was always kind of mean to you, but I never hated you like I acted."

Seth and Marissa were close enough to the Range Rover now that Summer could hear Marissa through her open window. Seth saw Summer's head raise in interest when she started to hear bits of Marissa's strange ramblings drifting in through the window.

"In fact, I actually had a crush on you when I was fourteen."

Seth's eyes widened at Marissa's latest admission and Summer's head snapped in their direction in shock.

"It was the summer after you went through that big growth spurt. You grew like a foot and you lost all of your baby fat. And it was right when you were starting your whole "skater boy" phase, which was like the same time that Avril Lavigne song came out so, you know… skater boys were kind of in," Marissa said the skater boy part more to herself than to Seth. "But it's not like I was in love with you," Marissa thought for a second, "Because I like hardly even knew you; except for like the time I went to your ninth birthday party because my mom made me," Marissa's tone became bitter when she mentioned her mother. "Anyways," she shrugged and continued, "I think I just thought you were cute… and I liked your whole "I'm not gonna conform" attitude thingy too."

By the time Marissa finished, Seth and her had made it to the Range Rover and were standing on the passengers side in perfect earshot of Summer. Marissa had yet to notice Summer but Seth had been watching Summer's face the whole time Marissa had been telling her story. Summer's expression had gone from shocked and somewhat amused to shocked and kind of pissed off.

Seth just gave Summer a blank look before opening the back passenger door and helping Marissa in. He was about to close the door when Marissa spoke up again: "Oh, Seth I haven't told Summer this so don't tell her, okay?" Seth just raised his eyebrows in question. "Because when Ryan and me started dating, _Summer_ told_ me _that _she_ had had a crush on him, and she said that she would feel like a crappy friend if she didn't tell me… I don't want her to think _I'm_ a crappy friend for _not _telling_ her _that _I_ had a crush on _her_ boyfriend too."

"Uhh… Marissa," Seth said, pointing towards Summer, who was now turned around in her chair and staring at Marissa.

"Coop?" Summer questioned, waiting for some kind of explanation. Summer was trying to process every shitty thing Marissa had just done to her with the utterance of that last sentence: First, Marissa had told Seth that she had had a crush on him before she even told Summer; secondly, she kept her crush on Seth a secret even after Summer had told Marissa about her crush on Ryan; and, most importantly, Marissa had just told Seth that Summer had had a crush on Seth's best friend, which, it could be assumed, was not going to make Seth happy.

Marissa was too drunk to process what was going on so instead of giving Summer any kind of explanation, Marissa just buried her head in her hands and moaned.

Seth, who was beyond tired of Marissa, just rolled his eyes and slammed the door shut. A moment later he opened the drivers side door and climbed behind the wheel. He glanced at Summer as he started the engine, but she had her head turned towards the window and refused to even acknowledge him. Seth just rolled his eyes and sighed in defeat before backing out of the space and pulling out of the parking lot.

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Jimmy Cooper's apartment was thirty minutes from the park where the reception was held; Seth, Summer, and Marissa sat in complete silence for the entire ride.

Seth pulled into the apartment complex and put the car in park in front of the building where the Cooper apartment was located. He waited to hear the open and close of the back door signaling Marissa's exit but it never came. Seth groaned in frustration as he turned in his chair to see what was stopping Marissa from getting out; he found his answer in the form of Marissa passed out long ways on the back seat. He stared for a second before simply turning back around in his seat and laying on the horn.

Marissa jumped up and frantically began looking around, her hair plastered to the left side of her face from lying on the leather seat. She calmed down when she saw Seth's and Summer's amused faces staring back at her from the front seat. Her memory was groggy but she had a feeling that she should be embarrassed about something.

Marissa stared at Seth and Summer for about thirty seconds looking utterly confused. "This is your stop," Seth finally spoke up. When Marissa still said nothing and made no move to get out of the vehicle, Seth raised his eyebrows in question. "Aren't you going to get out?"

Marissa looked out the window towards her apartment building before turning her attention back to Seth and Summer and staring at them curiously for a few moments. When they made no move to give her any kind of explanation of how she had gotten into her current position, she just shook her head in a daze and opened the back door of the SUV. She muttered a meek, "Thanks for the ride," before getting out, slamming the door, and stumbling her way towards her apartment.

When Marissa had made it safely inside, Seth turned to Summer in hopes that she would talk to him now that Marissa was out of the car. To his frustration, Summer had already returned to her previous state of staring out the window and ignoring him completely.

"Summer," Seth finally said as he pulled onto the main road. He rolled his eyes when she still refused to look at him. "Why are you mad at me?"

Summer finally looked at him and rolled her eyes. "Why would I be mad at you?" she snapped.

"I don't know, but I figured I did something wrong if you don't even want to look at me or talk to me."

Summer stared at him for a second and her expression softened a little bit. "I'm not mad at you," Summer said in a less biting tone.

"Well then why were you ignoring me?"

"Because, I thought you were mad at me," Summer said, her gaze moving from Seth to her fingernails.

Seth had no idea where she was coming from. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"Because," Summer said, her gaze moving back to Seth. "You know… about what Marissa said." Summer's gaze fell to her lap again.

"About you having a crush on Ryan?" Seth asked slightly amused.

"Well, yeah. What else did Marissa say that would make you made at me?" Summer asked sarcastically.

Seth had no idea why Summer thought he was mad at her. He had always thought it was common knowledge that Summer had liked Ryan when he first came to Newport. "Summer, I already knew you used to have a crush on Ryan."

"How?" Summer ordered.

"I saw you hitting on him after the fashion show _and _at cotillion," Seth explained slowly. Summer's expression remained blank. "I was standing right next to him both times you came on to him," he tried to refresh her memory.

"Okay…" Summer said holding up her hand to keep him from talking so she could think. "I remember the cotillion incident, but you guys weren't even at that party after the fashion show. How could I have hit on him then?"

"you were a little… um…" Seth thought about how he should put it. "You were in a condition very similar to Marissa's at the time."

"Oh," Summer said slowly as she turned in her seat to face forward again.

Seth nodded. "Yeah," he affirmed.

"You know," Summer looked at him. "I didn't really have a crush on him. I just thought he was cute," she said dismissively.

"Hey, as long as you don't have a crush on him now, I'm okay."

Summer nodded. "Okay."

"Okay."

"Sooo," Seth smirked, "Did you hear the part where she said she had a crush on me?"

Summer rolled her eyes. "She was drunk, Cohen."

"So," he responded. "I think she made it pretty clear. She said she thought I was cute."

"'cute' is objective," Summer reasoned. "She never specified what kind of cute she thought you were. She could have thought you were cute like her baby cousin…, or like a monkey."

Seth ignored Summer's comment. "She liked my "skater boy" look," he said proudly.

"Well at least somebody did," Summer deadpanned.

"Hey, I was trendy," Seth defended. "I was dressing like that long before that stupid song came out or every store in America started selling cheap knockoffs."

Summer shot him a sideways glance and tried to conceal her amusement. "That's even sadder."

"Hey, come on. I don't knock your clothes," Seth whined.

"That's because _my style _is actually good," Summer responded arrogantly.

"According to who?"

"Everyone who matters," Summer snapped.

"Oh, so according to you, I don't matter?"

"Nope."

Seth's mouth fell open and in mock hurt. "That was cold, Summer."

Summer just smiled sweetly.

"You know, this is stupid, we shouldn't be arguing about something as insignificant as clothes," Seth said once he had recovered from Summer's heartless insult. "There are much more important things for us to talk about. Like…" Seth paused for effect, "the fact that your best friend had a crush on me."

"Ugh, Cohen," Summer said as slammed her head against the headrest. "Let it go."

Seth ignored her. "I'm just wondering: If Marissa Cooper, one of the most popular girls in school, fell for my charm and boyish good looks; what other "in crowd" girls also found me completely irresistible?"

Summer laughed despite her efforts to not encourage him. "You're delusional, Cohen."

"You're just saying that because you know I'm onto you," Seth said arrogantly. Summer just shook her head and rolled her eyes as Seth continued. "Yep, I can just imagine all those Saturdays in Marissa's room spent outwardly swooning over the jock of the week, while inside both of you were thinking, 'That Cohen kid is _sooo_ hot.'"

"You're pushing it."

"You know, Summer," Seth went on completely ignoring her, "You should really consider yourself lucky. Marissa may have wanted me, but you got me."

"I consider myself a saint for putting up with you so some other poor girl doesn't have too."

"Because you're always thinking of others before yourself," Seth said sarcastically.

"As a matter of fact, I am. I'm a very considerate person," Summer insisted.

"I'm not saying you're not," Seth defended his previous statement, all the while trying to stifle his laughter. Summer was taking this seriously and it would do him no good if she heard him laugh about something she thought was important.

Despite Seth's best effort, Summer could still easily see Seth's struggle to say his last sentence with a straight face. "You're lying! You do think I'm inconsiderate and self-centered, don't you?"

"Now you're putting words in my mouth. I definitely did _not_ say that."

"You might as well have."

"Summer, you're overreacting. It's not that big-"

"I'm overreacting?" Summer asked increduously. "My boyfriend thinks I'm inconsiderate and self-absorbed."

"I do _not_ think that," Seth attempted once again to save himself. "I'll admit, I think that you look out for yourself and do what's best for you-," Summer went to interrupt him again but Seth reached over and put a hand over her mouth before she could, "Let me finish," he said as he removed his hand. "I think you do what's best for you," he repeated, "_But_, not if you know you're really going to hurt someone else by doing."

"So you think I'm ruthless and selfish as long as I know I'm not going to really hurt someone?"

"Yes, kind of," Seth said realizing that it may have come out wrong. "But," he added quickly, "I think it's a good thing. You go after what you want and don't let anything stop you. I think it's endearing."

Summer raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Endearing?"

"Yes! In fact, I think it's one of the reasons I love you so much," Seth said with out thinking; he was just trying to save himself from a "rage blackout".

Summer's mouth fell open at Seth's last words. A second later, so did Seth's.

Summer opened her mouth hesitantly after a moment. "It's one of the reasons you… you what?"

"Umm…Uh… huh...?" Seth stuttered, suddenly losing all ability to think or speak.

"What'd you just say?" Summer asked a little more bluntly this time.

"I..., Uhh… nothing."

"Nooo… you said something."

"I said 'Yes'," Seth finally admitted.

"You said lo-"

"Maybe," Seth cut her off.

"Well… did you mean it?" she asked, her expression was unreadable. Not that Seth would know; he had not been able to look at her ever since he had said the word.

Seth's eyes widened and he stuttered. He had no idea how to answer that. Either way, it could end very badly for him.

"Seth?" Summer pushed.

"Uh… well… umm," he continued to stutter, "Did you… um… Did _you_ want me to mean it?" Seth answered as safely as he could.

"Do _you_ want me to want you to mean it?"

Uh-oh. Seth knew there was no way he could answer that with another question; if he did there was a good chance Summer would slap him.

"Y..yes…" he finally admonished meekly, not even looking at her.

Seth seriously wanted to die during the next minute of silence that followed. When Summer still had not said anything after the first minute, Seth concluded solemnly that she was just thinking of the best way to let him down.

"Really?" Seth heard Summer ask softly.

It was now Seth's turn to sit in silence for a long moment and leave Summer wondering what was going to happen next.

"Yeah," he breathed out hesitantly as he finally turned to look at her.

"Hmm," was, along with a single nod, Summer's only reply.

A second later, Seth turned his head back to the road, not even chancing another glance at Summer. He had never intended to tell Summer that unless, by some holy miracle, she had said it to him first. He was perfectly fine knowing that he would always have stronger feelings for Summer than she had for him. He just never wanted_ her_ to know that.

The worst part was that things had been going so well. As long as they never got too deep, they were happy. They were having fun. They cared about each other, but they did not have to be invested in each other. Now Seth was mentally kicking himself for going and upping the stakes on Summer.

He knew Summer was freaked out. How could she not be? They had only been going out for five months; of course she was going to think it was weird and obsessive that Seth thought he was in love with her. It was just a matter of time now before she put Seth out of his misery and broke up with him.

They had just been entering Summer's neigborhood when Seth made the gigantic ass out of himself, so, luckily for him, he was not forced to sit in complete shame next to her for _too_ long.

It was one of Seth's cheesy customs to walk Summer to her door when he dropped her off. This time he just put the car in park and looked out the drivers side window as he waited for her to get out. Summer was liable to think he was stalking her if he walked her to her door tonight.

When Seth had still not heard the opening and shutting of Summer's door after thirty seconds he turned to see why she was still in the car. Before Seth could even get a clear view of her though, Summer had her hands on either side of his face and was kissing him.

Seth really had no idea how to describe the kiss: It was passionate, but not especially hard; breathtaking, but not particularly tiring; long, but not too drawn out. The only thing he knew for certain was that it was perfect; and one of the best moments of his entire life.

After an undecipherable amount of time, Summer pulled away just enough to rest her forehead against Seth's. "I love you too, Cohen," she spoke softly after a moment.

A small smile and a hasty, "Hmm," was Seth's only response before he moved his face forward the short distance that was separating them until he was kissing her again.

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Thank you for all of the reviews. Please keep writing them. And HOTTERTHNU, thank you for pointing that out last chapter. I knew something didn't look right when I was typing it, I just couldn't figure out what it was.


	4. chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, least of all The O.C.

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It was Summer's first time visiting the new Nichol mansion. She knocked cautiously, hoping that one of the Coopers, or former Cooper in the new Mrs. Nichol's case, opened the door. Caleb tended to creep her out whenever she saw him or talked to him. She liked to interact with him as little as possible. The fact that she was dating the man's grandson made it a little more difficult, but she didn't let that stop her from trying to avoid him as much she could.

To Summer's relief, it was the little Cooper that greeted her.

Caitlin wrinkled her nose in dislike when she saw who was standing at the door. "Eww, what are you doing here?"

Summer raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean what am I doing here?" Summer asked as she walked passed Caitlin and into the gigantic foyer. "I'm here to see Coop." Summer then smirked in amusement. "Why else would I be here? To see you?" she asked sarcastically.

"Marissa said you were on some sailing trip with your nerd," Caitlin snipped.

"Okay, number one, Seth's a geek; not a nerd," Summer said airily as she looked around. She knew it would bother Caitlin if her insult hadn't had the desired effect. "Think about it," Summer continued,"'Comic book _geek_', 'emo _geek_'; It would sound dumb if you said 'nerd'."

Caitlin just rolled her eyes for lack of a better response.

"And two," Summer ignored Caitlin's pathetic attempt at a come back. "We came back early, so get over it," she finished.

Caitlin thought for a second before using a different approach to insult Summer. "I used to look up to you too, ya know," Caitlin said with a superior tone. She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head in disappointment. "Before you switched sides, that is."

Summer looked at Caitlin strangely but she made no move to explain her comment further. She was slightly curious and had nowhere important to be any time soon so she decided to humor the girl. "What sides?" she asked indifferently.

"_Social sides_," Caitlin answered as though it should have been obvious. "You and my sister were at the very top of the Harbor hierarchy, and then, for some unknown reason, you both traded it in for some poor looser from Chino and a superhero-obsessed _nerd_." She emphasized her use of the word "nerd".

"Well," Summer crossed her arms over her chest, "I prefer the geek and the delinquent to the pothead jocks that seem to be in your near future," Summer said confidently. "Besides," she added smugly, "At least I won't need a joint or a bong in order to get my boyfriend to pay attention to me."

"No, just a Wonder Woman costume."

A slight blush came to Summer's cheeks. "Marissa told you about that?" she asked self-consciously.

"She may have let it slip."

Summer only blushed slightly for a second before deciding she could really care less if Caitlin knew about the costume. It had already been spread around the school months ago. What did she care if one more person, a thirteen-year-old at that, knew.

"Whatever," Summer brushed it off with a wave of her hand as she turned from Caitlin and glanced around the gigantic foyer that branched off in about six different direction. "Now, where is your sister's room in this oversized box?"

"Up the stairs to the left," Caitlin said dully as she crossed her arms over her chest. "It's the last door on the right."

"Thanks," Summer said cheerfully as she fixed her gaze on the staircase and began swiftly making her way towards it. She ruffled Caitlin's hair as she walk by. "You can go back to playing with your dolls now."

"I don't play with dolls," Caitlin called after her. "Or plastic horses for that matter."

Summer whipped around and stared at Caitlin. "What?"

"Marissa may have let some other things slip too," Caitlin grinned triumphantly. "Tell Princess Glitter I said 'Hi'," she called over her shoulder as she turned and walked in the opposite direction of the stairs.

Summer rolled her eyes and clenched her teeth as she turned and continued her assent of the stairs. She was going to have to speak to Marissa about the things she was sharing with her little sister.

Summer found Marissa's door closed when she reached the end of the hallway. Summer used to never knock before entering Marissa's room, but upon Marissa's discovery of a less-than-wholesome pastime lately, Summer had found the practice of knocking before entering to be a little more necessary now than when they were thirteen.

She knocked lightly on the door and waited for Marissa to answer.

"Mom!" Summer heard Marissa's exasperated voice call from inside the room. "Go away! I already told you I didn't want to go shopping."

"Coop, it's me."

A few seconds later the door swung open to reveal a slightly surprised Marissa.

"Sum, what are you doing here?" she repeated Caitlin's earlier question, but her voice was filled with pleasant surprise instead of blunt disdain. "I thought you and Seth weren't getting back from Catalina until tomorrow."

"We decided to come back early," Summer said as she walked passed Marissa and into the room.

"Why?" Marissa was confused. "Did you guys have a fight or something?"

"No," Summer said absentmindedly as she surveyed Marissa's new room.

Marissa noted Summer's vagueness. "Well?" she prodded Summer to explain her early return in a little more detail.

"Well what?"

"Are you going to tell me why you guys decided to come back early?"

"There was just a mix up with the hotel." Summer walk to the French doors that lead to the balcony. She nodded approvingly when she saw the view.

"Did they like double book or something?"

"No," Summer answered simply and casually, not even turning to look at Marissa.

Marissa knew that Summer was hiding something; she was being way too vague. Summer never neglected to give details to Marissa unless those detail had the potential to seriously embarrass her.

"Summer, why won't you tell me why you guys left early?" Marissa demanded sternly.

"Because, there's nothing to tell," Summer said irritably.

"Summer if there was nothing to tell I would know already, because you would have told me." Judging by the perplexed look on Summer's face, Marissa could tell her last point had come out a little more confusing than it had sounded in her head.

"What?"

"You tell me all the boring things that happen, but when it's something that's actually interesting you don't say a word," Marissa clarified.

"That's not true, Coop," Summer argued even though she knew it was a lie. "I tell you everything; the boring and interesting stuff alike."

"Well if that's true, why didn't you ever tell me what went on in the closet between you and Alex Mathews at Holly's fourteenth birthday party?"

"Umm…" Summer looked defeated. She pondered her options for a moment before finally giving in. "So you want to know why we left Catalina early?"

Marissa smiled victoriously. "Yep."

"Fine," said childishly as she plopped down onto Marissa's bed. She paused then added, "But don't go telling people."

Marissa looked slightly indignant that Summer didn't fully trust her not to tell anyone. "Summer, I would never tell anyone something you've told me in private."

"Really?" Summer asked skeptically. "Then how does Caitlin know about the Wonder Woman costume?"

"Uh…?" Marissa had forgotten about that.

"Just don't tell anybody this, okay," Summer ordered seriously.

"I promise," Marissa responded just as seriously. Then a smirk crept back onto her face. "So... why'd you leave early?" she asked with a suggestive eye raise.

Summer hesitated and stared at Marissa pitifully for a few moments before finally accepting the fact that Marissa was not going to let her out of spilling.

"Well…" Summer began, "We were taking a walk last night on the beach and it was late; actually, it was really early- like 12:30." At Marissa's look, she returned to the oringinal point. "Anyways... it was really dark, and there was no one else on the beach."

"I got that from the 'It was really late/early' speech."

"I just wanted to make sure you were following." She gave Marissa a sideways glare before continuing. "Well, when we got back to the hotel, we weren't really tired so we decided to sit on the beach for awhile longer and talk."

Marissa looked skeptical. "Talk?"

"Talk," Summer repeated affirmatively. "But…" She paused as Marissa nodded her head knowingly, "The talking lead to kissing, and the kissing lead to other things, and the other things lead to more things, until Cohen suggested we go inside."

"And how did that result in you guys leaving early?" Marissa prodded when Summer paused a little too long for her liking.

"I'm getting there," Summer snapped. "So, when we realized that things were going a little too far we moved into our room, and, well… you can guess what happened from there."

Marissa nodded.

"Anyways, at like 9:30 this morning some hotel staff woman is knocking on our door. She tells us that an elderly couple staying at the hotel had been walking on the beach the previous night and had seen _'the young couple staying in the room next to them'_- that's how they recognized us- in an obscene position on the beach, and that they were '_very offended that the hotel allowed such behavior on their premises'_," Summer mocked them. "They threatened to sue the hotel for allowing offensive and immoral behavior on their property that caused them severe emotional damage," Summer explained further. "First, we didn't do _anything _offensive or obscene on the beach; we waited until we got to our room. Second, I don't even think those are grounds for a lawsuit! Seth was going to check with his dad."

"So did the hotel kick you out?" Marissa asked even though she already knew the answer.

"Yes!" Summer spat. "They asked us to leave and not do business with that hotel again in any location."

"Wow."

"I know. It's ridiculous, right?"

"Well…" Marissa started carefully. Summer's eyes widened in indignation. "It's just… It really does depends on how far you and Seth actually went on the beach," Marissa explained. "I mean, what were the '_other things_' that the kissing lead to? Was there any removal of clothes? Any rounding of bases?"

"Coop!"

"Well, I'm curious," Marissa answered defensively. "You never tell me anything about that part of your relationship with Seth. I have no idea how kinky you guys are; how far you would go in a public place," Marissa added innocently as her eyes looked to the side.

"Do you think we're a couple of nymphos! We can control ourselves long enough to move to a private place!" Summer said hotly. "We just kissed! No more than innocent making out." Summer looked almost disgusted at her best friend's insinuation. "God, Coop! get your mind out of the gutter."

Marissa looked more amused than upset at Summer's reaction to her remark. "Truthfully? You guys didn't go too far on the beach?"

"Honest," Summer assured, staring Marissa straight in the eye. When Marissa continued to stared at her though, she was not able to keep eye contact. She lowered her eyes and turned her head away.

"Summer?" Marissa insisted suspiciously, narrowing her eyes.

Summer bit her bottom lip and wrinkled her nose before finally giving in. "_His-shirt-might-have-been-off-and-there-may-have-been-some-grinding-,_" she said in one quick breath. "_But_ _that was it! _I swear," she said a little more slowly.

Marissa laughed, finding amusement in Summer's embarrassment. "You know, I always figured you would be little eccentric in this area but I have to say, Seth surprises me; I always took him to be more of a missionary kind of guy. I think you may be corrupting him."

"Like you and Ryan have never been caught in a compromising position outside of the bedroom," Summer countered.

"We've never been kicked out of a hotel for it."

Summer narrowed her eyes. "The geezers just overreacted," she justified. "They're just grumpy because the Viagra isn't working for them."

"I'm sure," Marissa said sarcastically. "Next time, just consider the old people you might be giving heart attacks to before you start getting handsy with your boyfriend in a public place."

"And you consider the friends you might be scarring for life the next time you and Ryan get it on on the Cohen's living room couch."

"Let's change the subject," Marissa suggested as her cheeks grew red.

"Okay," Summer agreed. "Just remember, you two aren't the only ones who sit on that couch. At least sand gets washed away."

Marissa glared at Summer warningly.

Summer threw her hands into the air defensively. "Okay, moving on."

"So," Marissa said after a few minutes of silence. "Other than getting thrown out for immoral conduct," Summer glared and Marissa smiled innocently, "Did you guys have fun?"

"Yeah. It was nice to get away," she answered simply. Summer was being purposely being vague again. She had recently started feeling more and more uncomfortable talking to Marissa about Seth. She had told her about the 'I love you' exchange and Marissa had become giddy, wanting to know all the details, which had made Summer kind of regret mentioning anything in the first place.

She didn't mind sharing the general facts, but Marissa always wanted to know all the little particulars- like how it had been brought up; what his face looked like when she had said it back; what they did afterwards. Summer didn't think it was any of Marissa's business that it had come up in the middle of one of their bantering sessions; _or_ that he had the cutest smile with the most adorable dimples she had ever seen permanently plastered on his face for the rest of the night after she said it back; _or_ that she had immediately pulled him up to her bedroom after the exchange, where they proceeded to have the best sex of their entire relationship. She thought that they were intimate details that should stay between her in Seth.

Of course, she knew that Seth was still a guy and had undoubtedly divulged some of the details to Ryan immediately upon his return home the next morning. So, with that in mind, she did tell Marissa about the 'best sex of their entire relationship' part. But she tried her best to brush off the rest of the prying questions.

"Well that's good," Marissa said sincerely. "It's good that you guys got a chance to have some time alone together."

"Yeah," Summer said with an awkward smile.

"What else did you guys do?"

"I don't know," Summer answered sounding slightly annoyed. "Different stuff. Nothing too interesting."

"That's it? You can't tell me anything more specific than 'stuff'."

"Nothing that's any of you're business," Summer snapped unintentionally.

"Sorry," Marissa responded defensively. "I was under the impression that we were best friends and still shared things with each other," she said bitterly.

"We are… and we do," Summer said apologetically. "It's just… I don't feel comfortable doing it about this; not yet. This whole serious relationship thing is still new to me and I'm still trying to sort out all my feelings about it. It's kind of overwhelming sometimes, and talking about it before I've even grasped the whole meaning of it can make it even more confusing… and it's already confusing enough as it is." Summer stared at Marissa pitifully, hoping that she would understand her feelings.

"I just don't get it," Marissa said, her tone more disheartened than harsh. "You used to talk to me about your boyfriends all the time. You would tell me almost everything. I would have to ask you to stop."

"I know. But they were never serious. It was never anything new or groundbreaking for me. I was never worried about screwing anything up because I never really cared. Now it seems like there's more on the line and I don't want to mess it up because I put to much stock in what someone else said," Summer tried to explain.

Marissa looked hurt. "Summer, do you really think I would try to lead you in the wrong direction or put ideas in your head about you relationship with Seth?"

"No! Coop, you know I didn't mean it like that." She sighed exasperatedly. "It's just... for so long I've valued your advice so much, and I've always gone by what you said. But now I think I have to go by what I feel is right; not what someone else thinks is right."

Marissa's expression became sympathetic. "I understand what you mean. I guess I probably felt the same way on some level when I first started getting serious with Luke." Marissa thought for a second before continuing, "It just seems like Seth is a really big part of your life right now. Maybe even the biggest, and if we can't talk about the biggest part of your like… what does that say about our friendship?" Marissa asked sadly.

Summer hesitated before speaking. "I think it says…"she started softly, "That we're still best friends, but there are some things that we need to do on our own without the other one in the background influencing our every move."

Marissa nodded her agreement mournfully. "I get it. I guess I've just been in one serious relationship or another for so long that sometimes I forget what that confused and uncertain feeling feels like. I know how scary and invigorating it feels to know that it's the first thing you're really doing on your own, with no one else dictating what you should do." She paused and smiled as if remembering her own experiences before looking back at Summer. "And I know that it's more exciting and exhilarating when you just go step by step and not overanalyze everything… or have to stop every few seconds to give your best friend a play-by-play," she added with a smirk.

She knew Summer was right; they did have way too much influence over each other and it would be hard not to listen to the other's advice. She remembered being uncomfortable talking to Summer about Luke when they first started going out. It was a new situation and it was weird and confusing listening to what Summer thought all the time. It got easier when Marissa just stopped talking to her about it so much, and eventually it all worked out. After Marissa became more comfortable with Luke, she could listen to what Summer had to say without feeling the huge urge to actually follow every bit of her advice. Hopefully the same thing would happen with Summer when her and Seth became more stable and secure in their relationship.

Summer smiled and hugged Marissa. "Thanks Coop."

She pulled away from Marissa and stood up from the bed. "And I'm sure in a little while I'll be able to talk about it more comfortably. I just need to kind of experience this on my own for right now. Get used to it," she said with an uncertain nod, as if realizing for the first time that what she was saying was, in fact, what she needed.

"I totally get it, Sum." Marissa's tone sounded much lighter now. "Besides, I do have a boyfriend of my own. I guess I could venture over to the Cohen's every once in awhile and talk to him," she said smiling. "The conversations won't be nearly as interesting, but I'll manage."

"Well, I'm sure that you guys could find other ways to entertain yourselves, even if the conversation is a little dull," Summer said suggestively as she grabbed her purse and walked to the door.

"Right… maybe we'll take a little walk down to the beach. _Talk._ Like you and Seth did."

"I knew you would think of something," Summer said slyly. "Speaking of Seth, I told him I'd come over later, so I should probably get going," she said as she opened the door.

"Yeah," Marissa agreed as she stood up too. "Ryan and I are going out in a few hours so I should probably start getting ready." She paused. "I'll talk to you soon?" she asked hesitantly. "You know, about other stuff. Weather, sports, politics…" she finished smiling.

"Yeah, of course," Summer said sincerely, then hugged Marissa one more time. "I've actually been dying to talk to you about the election," she stated sarcastically. "I just can't decide which candidate's platform I agree with more," she joked, feigning seriousness.

"Definitely Nader," Marissa deadpanned. "How can you not support someone who wants to legalize Marijuana?"

Summer laughed. "That's a good point. I'll keep that in mind." She waved as she turned to leave. "See you later, Coop," Marissa heard Summer call from the stairs a few seconds later.

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"So…" Ryan said as he jabbed relentlessly at the "X" and "O" buttons on the PS2 controller, not taking his eyes off the screen for a second. "How was Catalina?" he asked casually.

"It was fine," Seth answered just as casually. He was also staring intently at the screen, jerking his controller back and forth as he desperately pressed at the buttons on his own controller.

"That's cool," Ryan said absently.

"Yeah," Seth said just as absently.

They continued to play their game in silence for another few minutes when Ryan remembered something. "Weren't you guys not suppose to be back until like tomorrow or something?" He inquired curiously, still not taking his eyes off the game.

"Yeah, but there was a mix up at the hotel so we had to leave early."

"Oh," Ryan said with a nod as he watched Seth's ninja deliver a swift spin kick to his own ninja's stomach. "That sucks," he added.

"Hmm," Seth agreed with a small nod. "But it's not that big of a deal."

Ryan watched as Seth karate chopped the last bit of life out of his ninja. He accepted his defeat gracefully and set the controller down. "How long have we been playing this?" he asked as he looked out the window to see that it had become dark out.

Seth glanced at his watch and wrinkled his nose. "About three hours."

"Really?" Ryan asked a little surprised. "Maybe we should do something else."

"I'm kind of hungry. You wanna eat?"

"Okay. What do you want?"

"My parents left money. We could order pizza," Seth suggested as he got up and walked into the kitchen.

"Sounds good," Ryan answered indifferently as he watched Seth disappear into the kitchen and then reappear with the phone in his hand.

"What do you want on it?" Seth asked as he dialed the number.

"Pepperoni and mushrooms." Seth nodded his approval. "Oh, and onions," Ryan added.

Seth wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "No, Summer's coming over," he said by way of explanation. When Ryan looked at him strangely he explained further. "She hates onions."

"Then she can bring her own pizza," Ryan said seriously.

Seth rolled his eyes and walked back into the kitchen as he placed the order.

A minute later he came back out. "I got half with onions."

"That's fine," Ryan said casually. "I just better not see you or your girlfriend grabbing from my side of the pizza."

"So you get a whole half while we have to share one?"

"It's not my fault you're whipped. If you wanted onions, you should have had the balls to stand up to Summer."

Seth's mouth fell open in offense. "I'm not whipped," he protested. "I'm just sensitive to Summer's needs."

"Whatever you say man," Ryan chuckled. "Just don't eat my pizza and I won't comment."

Seth rolled his eyes and grabbed the keys to the Range Rover from the coffee table in front of the couch.

Ryan looked up at him quizzically from his slumped position on the couch. "Where ya going?"

"The pizza place doesn't deliver. I have to go pick it up."

"Oh," Ryan said as he got up to reset the PS2.

"If Summer gets here before I get back, tell her I'll be back in a few minutes," Ryan heard Seth call a few seconds later from somewhere in the direction of the foyer.

"You got it," Ryan called in the general direction that he had heard Seth's voice. He fell back into the couch and began playing again. A few seconds later he heard the door slam.

About fifteen minutes later, Ryan was still sitting on the couch playing Play Station. When he heard his stomach growl he glanced at his watched and figured it was still another ten minutes before Seth got back. When he heard the door open a minute later though, he figured he had miscalculated.

To his, and his stomach's, disappointment however, it was not Seth, but Summer that came striding through the doorway. It wasn't that he didn't like Summer, because he did. He was just really hungry.

"Ya know," Ryan said casually as he continued to play his video game, "It's against the law to just walk into someone's house."

Summer rolled her eyes. "Not if the idiot left the door unlocked," she said as she stared at him pointedly.

"I'm not the idiot who left the door unlocked," he said, sounding way too pleased with himself. "Your boyfriend left it unlocked when he left." He smirked as he watched her face change from confident to confused. She glanced around the room for the first time since she arrived and realized that Seth was, in fact, not there.

"Where's Cohen?" she demanded as she turned back to face Ryan. The small smile she had worn when she walked in was now gone.

"He went to pick up some pizza," Ryan answered, turning his attention back to the game.

"When's he gonna be back?" she asked as she took a seat in the comfy chair next to the couch.

Ryan shrugged. "A few minutes," he guessed.

Ryan watched her from the corner of his eye for the next few minutes as he continued to play his game. She was making a big effort of looking utterly bored. She never looked that bored when she was watching Seth play video games.

After Summer's fifth exaggerated sigh, Ryan finally attempted conversation. "So… things are going good with you and Seth?" he half asked, half stated. When Summer gave him a weird look he expanded. "He said you guys had a good time in Catalina."

"Yeah," Summer answered, not making any further effort at getting the conversation going.

Ryan thought for a second about something else he could ask and then made another attempt. "Are you guys planning anymore sailing expeditions any time soon?" Ryan asked casually.

"I don't know," Summer snapped. "You talk to him more than I do. You would know before me if he was planning anything."

"_Sorry_," Ryan apologized even though both him and Summer could tell that it lacked a good amount of sincerety. "Excuse me for trying to be polite. Why don't _you_ think of something to talk about."

Summer did feel a little bad for snapping at Ryan, but he was starting to sound way to much like Marissa with all his questions about her and Seth. Then again, Seth was kind of their common interest. What else could they talk about?

There was only one thing Summer could think of talking about with Ryan besides Cohen. "So how are you and Coop?"

Ryan shot her a sideways glare and Summer rolled her eyes at the predictability of it. "_You talk to her more than I do_," he mimicked Summer. "Why don't you ask her."

Summer smiled sweetly. "I don't have to, she already tells me everything." She paused and smirked as she seemed to remember something extra interesting that Marissa had told her. "Like that little problem you two had the other night." Summer feigned thought. "Premature something-or-other… I'm not quite sure, I'm drawing a blank."

Ryan's eyes widened to twice their size and his cheeks turned a bright red, but he did not give Summer the pleasure of looking at her so she could see. His eyes stayed desperately glued to the TV.

He couldn't believe Marissa had told her. There were some things that should just not leave the bedroom. Besides, it wasn't like it had ever happened before. He and Marissa both agreed that he had just been tired. Plus, he was still desperately clinging to the theory that it had something to do with all the Mountain Dew he had been drinking lately. He had read in a magazine once that there was something in Mountain Dew that affected a guy's performance. He just couldn't remember exactly _how_ it affected the performance. He was still hopeful.

Neither of them said anything for the next three minutes as they waited for Seth, but Ryan could sense Summer's smirk and feel her eyes boring into him. He was beyond relieved when he finally heard the front door open and saw Seth drag himself into the room a few seconds later.

"Hey!" he said enthusiastically when he saw Summer. He walked over to her chair and set the pizza box down on the coffee table as he bent to kiss her. "How long have you been here?" he asked when he pulled away a few seconds later.

"Only a few minutes," Summer said smiling. "Ryan kept me entertained."

"Oh yeah?" Seth asked curiously as he looked to Ryan. "What'd you guys talk about?" He directed the question to Ryan.

Ryan squinted his eyes as he thought. "Nothing interesting," he said, finally looking up.

"Huh," Seth said skeptically, but he let it go.

Ryan jumped up before the awkward silence could fully set in. "We need plates. I'm gonna go get plates."

Seth looked at him strangely. "Okay."

Ryan disappeared into the kitchen and Seth and Summer could hear different cabinets opening and closing.

Seth looked to Summer to explain Ryan's odd behavior, but she just smiled innocently and shrugged. "Hey buddy, did you forget where the plates are?" he finally called when he heard the fourth cabinet door slam shut.

"I'm looking for cups," he heard Ryan call. "I'm thirsty. I want a drink. Do you guys want a drink?"

"I'll take a Mountain Dew," Seth called back.

"Diet Coke, please," Summer requested.

"You got it," Ryan called to no one in particular.

"He's acting strange," Seth said in a low voice. Summer nodded. "I'm suppose to be the strange one."

"He's probably just having an off day," Summer reasoned as she opened the pizza box in front of her. Her face contorted into a displeased look when she saw what lay inside. "Eww, onions!" She looked at Seth disappointedly. "Cohen," she whined. "You know I hate onions."

"Yeah, but that's why I got half and half. See." He pointed to the onion-free side.

"But it was all in the same box and cooked in the same oven. The flavors probably meshed," she said whined.

Seth picked up a piece of the pepperoni and mushroom pizza and took a bite. He looked thoughtful and intent as he chewed. He finally swallowed and looked at her seriously. "Nope. I detect absolutely no trace of onion flavor on this pizza."

Summer giggled despite her efforts not to encourage him. "You're so weird." Seth just held the pizza up to her mouth in response. She looked at it skeptically for a second before taking a bite. She chewed and nodded her approval as she took the rest of the piece from his hand and took another bite.

Ryan came out a few seconds later carrying three plates and a glass of Mountain Dew, Diet Coke, and regular Coke. Seth took the plate Ryan offered and grabbed a large slice of pizza that was covered in onions. Ryan glared at Seth as he took a big bite and made yummy noises.

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An hour later the three sat on the couch playing PS2. Ryan was on the right, Summer to the left, and Seth in the center. Ryan watched as Seth beat Summer mercilessly.

"Cohen, what the hell are you doing!" she snapped as she frantically pressed random buttons. "Your stupid pirate keeps knocking mine down!"

"That's the point of the game, Summer. We're going against each other," he explained slowly as if she were a child. "And they're ninja's, not pirates."

"Whatever." Summer said, slamming her controller down. "I don't want to play this anymore. Don't you have _Mario_?"

"This is Play Station."

"So."

"So, you can't play Nintendo games on a Play Station console."

"Well this game is stupid."

"Then why don't you let me play?" Ryan asked frusratedly. Summer hadn't let him have a turn since they had started playing.

"Because you play all the time," Summer replied snidely.

"So does he," Ryan insisted, gesturing towards Seth.

"Yeah, but at least when I play him, he goes a little easy. Your stupid ass kills me right away."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "It is the point of the game."

Summer was about to say something when they heard the doorbell ring. When neither Seth or Summer made a move to get up, Ryan sighed. "I'll get it," he said sarcastically as he stood. He stared at Seth and Summer for another moment but gave up when they just stared back with no response.

"He's been a bit moody lately," Seth thought out loud, then turned to Summer. "I think it may be that time of the month," he whispered seriously.

Summer threw him a sideways glare but still laughed. A few seconds later, Ryan reentered, followed closely by Marissa.

"That's right," Summer said, remembering her earlier conversation with Marissa. She shot them a look. "Weren't you guys suppose to be going out."

Marissa blushed. "We had a change of plans. We decided to stay in tonight."

"Why?" Summer asked, not reading between the lines of what Marissa had said and the way she had said it.

Seth answered before Ryan or Marissa got the chance. "They found out my parents were going out of town," he said like a little kid. "So Ryan invited Marissa over to play."

Summer looked around like she had when Ryan had mentioned that Seth wasn't there earlier. "You're parents aren't home?" she asked, turning back to Seth.

Seth looked at her strangely. "You haven't notice the lack of them checking in on us every fifteen minutes to make sure there's no orgy going on in the living room?"

Summer took that as a 'yes' and moved onto her next question. "Where are they?"

Seth racked his brain but couldn't quite seem to recall where his parents had said they were going. He was busy unpacking when his mom popped her head in saying that they left money on the counter for food and to call if they needed anything. When Seth asked her what she was talking about she rolled her eyes and hastily told him that her and Sandy were going out of town for a few days for a family event. Seth was quite shocked when she claimed that they had told him about it two months earlier. Kirsten had quickly explained the situation to him again as she walked out the door, but all the details had seemed to slip his mind since the afternoon. Namely, Where and why they were going.

Seth was about to guess that they were in New York considering that all of his extended family lived either there or Newport but Ryan beat him to it.

"Sandy's nephew in New York is turning thirteen," Ryan answered Summer's question. "Sandy and Kirsten went for his Bar Mitzvah. They'll be back the day after tomorrow."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Summer asked Seth after listening to Ryan's explanation.

"I didn't no until about twenty minutes after I got home," Seth said honestly.

"They told us two months ago, Seth just forgot," Ryan inserted self righteously.

"God, Cohen, It's good to know you remember the important stuff," Summer said sarcastically.

"I do remember the important stuff," Seth said defensively. "I always remember my parent's anniversary. And their birthdays," he claimed proudly.

"Really?" Ryan asked from the doorway where he and Marissa were still standing. "So it wasn't your mother's birthday that you forgot last month?"

Seth glared at him. "Weren't you suppose to be going to the pool house?"

"Right," Ryan said as he started ushering Marissa towards the back door.

Summer turned back to Seth after watching Ryan and Marissa walk outside and close the glass door behind them. "Did you really forget your mother's birthday?"

"Yeah, but it was an honest mistake. I get June and July confused; they're right next to each other. And they both start with 'J'."

"You're a horrible son," Summer said seriously.

"I am not. I'm just forgetful."

Summer rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, sure."

"Honest," Seth said sincerely as he raised his right hand in the "Scout's honor" gesture. "Besides," a smile came over his face "I remember when _your_ birthday is," He said as he went to wrap his arms around her in an exaggerated hug.

Summer scooted further over on the couch and tried to push away his advance. "That doesn't make you a good son," she snit.

"But it makes me a good _boyfriend_," He said as he fell on top of her and she squealed. He buried his head in her neck and began nibbling the fold between her neck and shoulder playfully, successfully tickling her and arousing her at the same time.

Summer squealed as she tried to push him off. "Remembering my birthday doesn't make you a _good_ boyfriend," she said as she struggled. "It makes you _not-a-completely-sucky_ boyfriend."

"What if I said that I _also_ remember your favorite color?" he inquired seriously as he brought his hands to her sides and began tickling her. "And your favorite movie? And holiday? And food?" He asked each question in between Summer's squeals, accenting each one with another poke to her sides. "Does that make me a good boyfriend?" he asked hopefully as he finally let up on the tickling and lifted himself up on his hands so he could see her face. It was now hot and flushed from her struggle.

Summer pretended to consider the question. "It makes you an _okay_ boyfriend," she finally conceded.

"Well…" Seth pondered. "What would make me a great boyfriend?" he asked suggestively as his hands began to slide under her shirt the hem of her shirt.

Summer answered by grabbing the front of Seth's shirt and pulling him down to her until she was able to attach her lips to his. And, as his lips slid down to her neck and his hands traveled further up her shirt causing her to emit a small moan, she had to admit- Seth could definitely remember what she liked.

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Thanks for the reviews. Sorry this chapter didn't have as much Seth and Summer. I'm a big fan of their friendships with Ryan and Marissa so I wanted to write a little about those relationships. For those people who are big fans of Ryan and Marissa, I find it harder to right them so I'm sorry if they aren't very accurate. I tried.


	5. chapter 5

I don't own it.

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Seth was beyond bored. He had been at Summer's house an hour and they had been watching _The Simple Life_ for half that hour. The first half was spent going through paint swatches, and trying to decide which color Summer should paint her room.

Of course, Seth really didn't care what color Summer painted her room, and Summer wasn't really going to take any of Seth's suggestions seriously anyways, so Seth actually spent most of the thirty minutes lying on Summer's bed flipping through channels while Summer was hunched over next to him intensely studying the sample cards. Every once in a while Summer would turn to Seth and ask him what he thought of a certain color or combination, to which Seth would mumble a one word answer and Summer would roll her eyes wondering why she had even bothered asking in the first place. Then they each returned to their respective activities.

Summer had only decided to take a break when she heard the familiar sound of Paris Hilton's voice float from the TV and looked up to see that Seth had stumbled across _The Simple Life 2 _while channel surfing. She pushed her paint swatches aside and laid down so that her head was resting next to Seth's and she was facing the TV.

As Seth watched Summer get comfortable, he groaned, realizing that Summer was going to force him to watch Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton try to milk cows and make sausage for half an hour. He liked it better when she was ignoring him in favor of her swatches. At least then he could watch Comedy Central.

But, as it was, Seth really had no other choice but to sit quietly for half an hour if he had any hope of keeping Summer in the semi-good mood she had been in when he arrived.

And so, he watched patiently for thirty minutes until Paris and Nicole finally made enough money to leave the podunk little town they were in and move onto the next one. At least the show had a good plot.

"Paris Hilton is a goddess," Summer said as the image of Paris and Nicole changed to an advertisement for an antidepressant.

Seth considered what she had said for a second before responding, "What about Nicole?"

Summer thought for a second. "Nicole's like a deity. Not quite as high as Paris, but still deserves to be siginficantly worshiped."

"I like Nicole better," Seth said matter-of-factly. "She's hot." When Summer glared at him warningly he explained more carefully. "Well, think about it. She's a tiny, mouthy, spoiled, rich girl from California. I can't quite put my finger on it, but she reminds me of someone."

"I'm not spoiled!" Summer responded immediately. "I'm just well provided for."

Seth narrowed his eyes. "You're spoiled."

"So. You are, too," she responded snidely.

"I never said I wasn't. I'm just saying that I think you would be perfect for a third addition to _The_ _Simple Life _cast."

"I would," Summer affirmed proudly with a nod. "And everyone would like me better because I am nowhere near as bad as Nicole and Paris."

"I know I would," Seth agreed with a grin. Just as Seth finished, _The Simple Life _came back on and Summer waved her hand in dismissal of the conversation and shushed him.

Seth rolled his eyes. "Summer, it's just the closing credits."

"I know," Summer snapped. "I want to see the preview for next week."

Half way through the preview, though, Summer sat up and turned her attention back to her swatches. "It's a repeat," she explained simply when she saw Seth looking at her strangely out of the corner of her eye.

Seth just nodded and mouth an "Oh" as he turned back to the TV and started flipping through the channels again.

A few minutes later Seth concluded that there was nothing to watch and decided that bothering Summer was his next best option for entertainment. He had already read all the comic books he a stashed under her bed.

When Seth saw Summer making a move to grab a cranberry colored swatch near him he reached and grabbed it before she could get to it.

Summer glared at him. "What are you doing?"

Seth ignored her. "I like this color. It's got a very country, middle-aged woman type vibe."

Summer snatched the card from his hand and dropped it into the pile in front of her. "Who asked you?" she asked as she picked up another color card and held it up as if to imagine what it would look like on all of her walls.

"Uh... you did when you told me to come over and help you decide what colors to paint your room," Seth said as he reached around Summer's shoulder and grabbed the swatch from her hand.

"Yeah! That was before you told me to paint my room army green." She grabbed the swatch back from him. "Now I don't want your help, so you can leave." She turned her head away from him again to look at the swatches.

"No way, honey," Seth said as he leaned back on her bed and put his hands behind his head. "You wanted me, now you've got me forthe _whole_night."

Summer's only response was to tuck some loose hair behind her head and concentrate harder.

After a few seconds Seth sat up again and sighed loudly. When Summer didn't respond he just moved his head closer to her ear and sighed again. When she still refused to acknowledge him, Seth resorted to brining his right hand to her side and tickling her slightly.

Summer tried to shrug him off and move away from him at the same time, while still appearing to be intently focused on her task. She hoped her lack of reaction would convince him to stop. She was pleased when he pulled his hand away after a few more seconds.

A few seconds later, though, she was doubly disappointed when he brought both his hands to her sides and began tickling her more aggressively. She tried to shrug him off again, but this time he didn't pull his hands away. She finally whined, "Stop!", managing to draw-out the word into two separate syllables.

Seth immediately pulled his hands away at Summer's demand. He set them innocently in his lap, and obediently answered, "Okay."

Summer, knowing Seth, had expected another attack to come, but after a minute of peace, she let her guard down.

A second later Seth had grabbed her by the waste and dragged her underneath of his perched body where he began relentlessly tickling her. Summer squealed and writhed underneath of him, but that only encouraged him to tickle her with more enthusiasm.

Seth buried his face in her neck, playfully growling against her skin. The vibrations caused even more ticklish sensations to course through her body, causing her to squeal and wiggle even more.

About a minute later, Seth's tickling let up simultaneously with him placing a quick kiss on her lips, to which she halfheartedly responded to. A couple seconds later he lifted some of his weight off her and pulled back a couple inches so that he was hovering above her.

"Are you done now?" Summer asked after a few moments, though she no longer sounded annoyed..

"No," Seth whined, rolling over onto his back so that he was lying next to Summer. "I'm bored."

"Well, what am I suppose to do about that?" Summer asked patiently, turning her head to look at him. "You don't want to watch TV, you don't want to help me pick out colors, and you don't want to go home. There aren't many other options."

"You could entertain me," Seth offered.

Summer raised her eyebrows. "And how do you propose I do that?" .

"Well…" Seth began innocently, "You could dance for me. You always look really sexy when you dance, and I always find it _very_ entertaining."

"When have you ever seen me dance?"

"In my dreams you dance for me often," Seth answered seriously.

Summer narrowed her eyes. "I'm sure I do a lot of things in your dreams that I would never do in reality."

Seth's face contorted in concentration as he thought about Summer's assumption. "No... not really," Seth answered as he finally looked back at her and shook his head from side to side.

Summer rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said as a means of dismissing the conversation.

They sat in silence for about thirty seconds after that, both staring ahead, until Summer spoke again. "I know what we could do," she informed as she raised herself into a sitting position and turned to him.

Seth looked at her curiously. "I'm all ears."

"We can talk about next Friday!" she offered enthusiastically.

"Next Friday...?" Seth pondered out loud as he pretended to think. "July 29th?" he asked.

Summer nodded. "Can you think of _anything_ important about July 29th?"

Seth exhaled heavily as he thought. His eyes widened and his mouth opened as the importance of the date apparently dawned on him. "Oh, that's right! July 29th is exactly four months and twelve days before Chrismukkah!"

Summer scowled and smacked his shoulder. "Yeah. It's also my birthday, ass!"

"No way?" he feigned shock. "I totally forgot."

She narrowed her eyes. "You're such a jerk."

"I know. Forgetting your birthday is a pretty shitty thing to do, huh?" Seth admitted. He then thought for a second. "I guess it's a pretty lucky coincidence that I happened to make reservations at your favorite restaurant for that exact same night."

Summer's face lit up in pleasant surprise. She knew Seth would never really forget her birthday, but making reservations at her favorite restaurant, that happened to be in LA, was definitely going above and beyond. Not to mention that it costs about fifty dollars a plate to eat there. And that was only if you ordered a light meal and drank water.

"Pretty lucky," Summer agreed after the shock had worn off, though now she was grinning instead of scowling.

"And even luckier that I happen to a have a few girly things stashed in my closet," he continued, still showing no sign of kidding. "I was saving them for a rainy day - you know, for when I got bored - but I guess I could give them to you as birthday presents."

Summer leaned over him and placed a short kiss on his lips. She could feel him grin against her mouth. A few seconds later she pulled back, still smiling. "That does work out pretty well for you."

Seth's grin grew wider. "Yeah," he agreed as he raised his lips to meet hers again.

Instead of this kiss dying out after a few seconds like the first one had, it grew more intense. One of Seth's hands went to Summer's hair while the other wrapped around her waist and he pulled her to him.

As Summer felt the pressure of Seth's hand on her back, she let herself fall against him. The weight she had previously been resting on an extended arm now rested against him, and her free hand moved up to run through his hair.

Summer kissed him until lack of oxygen forced her to pull away, causing a small groan to emanate from Seth's mouth. Summer grinned and gave him a quick but intense kiss before pulling away again. She moved her lips to his ear and let her teeth graze his lobe softly before whispering, "I thought of something we could do."

Seth moaned as Summer's teeth caught his earlobe again. "What's that?" he breathed.

Summer didn't answer. She only sat up enough to straddle his hips and move her lips back to his. She slid her hands under his shirt and up his chest as far as they would go before deciding that it just wasn't enough. Her hands slid back to the hem of his shirt and she pulled it over his head in once quick motion, her lips barely leaving his.

Seth watched breathlessly as she pulled away from him again and pulled her own shirt off. His gaze traveled from her eyes, to her lower mid drift, and back to her eyes again before he finally spoke.

"Summer," he exhaled, "whatever it is, we should totally do it."

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An hour later, Summer buried her head in Seth's neck as she wrapped an arm around his torso and leaned into his side.

"That was _amazing_," she groaned against his skin.

Seth leaned his head against hers and yawned. "I think that's an understatement."

Summer lifted her head and stared at him. "You're getting a little cocky, Cohen."

Seth's cheeks reddened and he began to stutter. "I-I meant for me. _You _were excellent," hestuttered as he nodded fervently.

Summer only smiled and lifted herself up to look over Seth's head at her bedside clock.

Her eyes widened in surprise. "It's already eleven O'clock!."

His head turned to the nightstand. "Are you serious?"

"No, Cohen. I set my clock three hours ahead just to confuse you," she said sarcastically.

Seth ignored her as he began climbing out of the bed and grabbing up his discarded clothes from the floor.

Summer sat up and pulled the sheet tighter around her body. "Where are you going?"

"Home," he replied as he pulled on his pants.

"Why?" Summer asked, confused. "My dad's out of town so it's not like he's going to kick you out. And you've left my house a lot later than this without your parents getting upset."

"It's not my parents," Seth answered vaguely.

"Then what is it? You have a date?" she asked playfully.

Seth hesitated. "Yep," he said casually as he pulled his shirt over his head. At the sight of Summer's dirty look he explained, "With Ryan and Marissa. We have to talk about something."

Summer raised her eyebrows. "What do you three have to talk about together? Without me?"

"Um…" Seth tried to think of something to tell her. "We are… Uh... Having… A… Discussion group," he finished lamely.

"A discussion group?" Summer questioned disbelievingly. "What are you discussing?"

"Um… We... uh... joined a book club. We're discussing the latest book."

Summer rolled her eyes. "Do you really think I believe that?"

He looked at her pitifully. "You don't?"

"No!" Summer jabbed him in his chest with her index finger. "One, you hate reading anything that has more words than pictures." She jabbed him again, this time with her index and middle finger. "Two, why would you have a discussion group at eleven O'clock at night?" This time she used her whole hand to shove him in the chest. "And three, do you really think leaving me to talk about a book would make me happy!"

"Well it was actually suppose to be ten O'clock, not eleven." he explained meekly. "I'm late."

"Cohen!" she barked warningly.

"Summer," he whined. "Marissa would kill me if I told you."

"So it really only has to do with you and Marissa, then?"

"Look," Seth said exasperatedly, "I'll tell you what I can, but then you have to promise not to ask anymore questions."

"That depends on how much you tell me."

Seth rolled his eyes but told her anyway. "Marissa and I are collaborating on birthday present for you."

When Seth didn't continue Summer asked, "That's all you're going to tell me?"

"I can't tell you anything else without giving it away."

"Fine," Summer pouted. "But it better be good, Cohen."

Seth stood up and kissed her forehead before walking towards the door. "Trust me, it is," he called over his shoulder as he left.

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Seth groaned as he buried his head in one of Ryan's pillows for what was probably the hundredth time in the past hour. He knew planning a surprise party with Marissa wasn't going to be fun but he was willing to do it for Summer. If he had known it was going to be this frustrating, he never would have agreed to plan it with her.

He had originally wanted to plan a small party with just the four of them and maybe one or two of Summer's other friends, but when Marissa had found out, she had insisted that Summer would much prefer a huge party with a few hundred of her _closest _friends and a few hundred dollars worth of alcohol. Seth had argued with her about it for days, but in the end they had decided to compromise. They would plan a semi big party with a moderate amount of alcohol, together.

Planning a party with Marissa was easier said than done.

If Seth had thought she was controlling before, he now considered her to be damn near dictator status.

Not to mention she disagreed with everything he suggested, which was really aggravating considering he was the one who had wanted to have the party in the first place.

"Seth? Seth!" Marissa snapped when she looked up to see that he had zoned out yet again. "Are you even listening?" Seth just stared at her blankly. "You know, for someone who wanted so much say in this party, you sure are getting distracted easily."

"Marissa," Seth said slowly, "It's 2:30 in the morning. We've been doing this for three hours. _I'm_ burnt out on it. _Ryan's_ definitely burnt out on it. _You_ should be burnt out on it. Why can't we just finish tomorrow?"

"Because we've been planning for a week. The party's in five days. We have to start actually getting prepared."

"We are prepared." Seth held up his hand and started sticking up one finger after another as he counted off an imaginary list. "We know where we're having it. We know who we're inviting. We know how we're going to decorate. We know how we're going to get Summer to the party. What else is there?"

"One, we don't know where we're having it. I never agreed to having it at my house, you guys just decided without me. My mom would kill me if she found out."

"We've been over this Marissa. Your house is the only option. Your mom's going to some spa for the weekend with the other Newpsies and my grandpa is out of town on business."

Marissa glared at him. "You're the one who wanted to have this party. Why can't we do it at your house? Your mom's going with the Newpsies, too."

"Because," Ryan spoke up for the first time in over thirty minutes. Seth was starting to think he had finally fallen asleep after two hours ofdazing in and out. "Sandy's still going to be home, and as liberal as he is, he's not going to let a bunch of teenagers get drunk and trash his house for the sake of his son's girlfriend."

"What makes you think my mom would?"

"That's the beauty of this situation. Your mom wouldn't know," Seth explained. "We'd have the party on Friday, clean up Saturday, and your mom would come home Sunday none the wiser."

Marissa huffed in frustration, but gave up knowing that her house really was the only option. She wanted to do this for Summer and she would, even if it meant her house getting trashed.

"Well, there's still another thing we're not prepared for Mr. boy scout," Marissa said after a few seconds, regaining some of her steam.

"What's that?" Seth asked, not sounding all that concerned.

"How are we going to get the alcohol? We can't lift that much from our parents without them noticing. Besides, I don't think many kids are going to be all that interested in Merlot and brandy over a keg anyway."

"No problem," Seth said airily. "I'll just get Hailey to buy us the alcohol."

"I really don't think my dad's girlfriend is going to by us alcohol."

"For one, she's been my aunt a hell of a lot longer than she's been your dad's girlfriend," Seth said superiorly. "Two, I know Hailey; you don't. She's never been one to play mature authority figure. As long as we give her the money, she'll come through for us and your dad will never know."

"She better," Marissa said skeptically."Or else it's going to be one lame-ass party."

"Marissa," Seth said in a soothing, Zen-like voice. "Have faith. Trust me."

"Yeah," Ryan said as he sat up and yawned. "Hailey's cool. She'll come through." When Marissa gave him a skeptical look he added, "And if she doesn't, we'll just drink coke. Anybody who doesn't like that can leave."

"Yeah, and that'd be pretty much everybody besides the four of us," Seth huffed.

Ryan glared sideways at him, which really didn't have much effect on Seth anymore considering he had been doing it since he arrived in Newport. He basically did it out of habit now. "Well then you'd get exactly what you wanted."

Seth and Marissa both glared at him.

"Look, everything will be fine," Ryan said when their staring didn't relent. He turned to Seth. "We'll get the drinks," he assured him, then switched his attention to Marissa. "Your mom won't find out," he guaranteed. Then he looked at both of them again. "And both of you need to just stop stressing out and go away because I'm tired and your on my bad."

"Sorry, buddy. I didn't know it was past your bedtime," Seth said sarcastically.

Ryan gave him the usual glare before ordering, "Out!"

"I only meant Seth. You can stay," he added in a much sweeter voice when he saw Marissa huffily getting up to leave as well.

Seth rolled his eyes as Marissa sat back down and curled up to Ryan, as if rewarding him for not having any balls. Not that Seth could judge. Summer had him whipped before she even spoke her first words to him. But at least Summer didn't treat him like a puppy, rewarding him every time he back down and apologized. Whenever he actually got the guts to stand up to Summer, which was not often, no amount of apologizing or puppy dog eyes could stop her from being pissed at him. She didn't automatically cave like Marissa always did.

He wouldn't trade her for anything.

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"Summer!" Seth yelled desperately as he banged on her front door again. He had been standing outside for three minutes waiting for someone to answer the door. He had tried her cell but she didn't answer, and he got a busy signal when he called her personal line.

After another two minutes of endless knocking and ringing and still no answer, he walked around to the side of the house to the maid's quarters. Maybe one of them would let him in.

He had to suffer a two minute interrogation in Spanish from one maid and a number of dirty looks from the others, but five minutes later he was standing outside Summer's door. And she still wasn't answering.

"Summer?" Seth called exasperatedly. If they didn't leave soon they wouldn't make their reservations.

"Summer, we're going to be late."

"Cohen?" Seth heard a nasally voice call.

"Summer, what's wrong? Why didn't you let me in earlier?"

"I was-" her answer was cut off by a sneeze. After sniffling a few times she finished, "sleeping."

"Summer? Are you sick?"

"Yes," he heard her reply meekly through the door.

"How can you be sick? You were fine when I talked to you this morning. Why didn't you call me?"

"I was feeling bad this morning, but I thought it would go away." She sneezed again. "It didn't."

"Summer, I'm coming in," he said as he turned to doorknob.

"No," Summer said quickly. "I'm a mess. My face is all gross and my hair is-"

It was too late. Seth had already walked in and was staring at her small form sitting up in bed with her comforter wrapped around her body and a tissue in her hand. It was the cutest, most pitiful sight he had ever seen.

"Seth!" she squealed as she pulled her comforter over her head. "Don't look at me."

"Why?"

"I look gross," she pouted.

"Summer," he said soothingly as he walked around her bed and sat next to her. He slowly pulled the cover from over her head. "You're sick. You're not expected to look perfect."

"But still-" she was cut off again, this time by an onslaught of hacking and coughing.

"Okay," Seth said as she finished. "_That_ was a little gross."

"Cohen," Summer practically sobbed.

Seth couldn't help but laugh as he reached for the tissue box on her night stand and handed it to her. His amusement made Summer even more upset.

"This isn't funny Cohen!"

"I know." He tried to sound sincere, but he was still smiling.

"Seriously, Cohen!" she whined. "It's my birthday, and I'm sick!"

"I've noticed."

"And we had plans!" she cried as she remembered. "And I wanted to go to dinner. And I wanted my presents!"

Seth smiled sympathetically. "I'm sorry."

Summer huffed. "It's not your fault."

"I know, but I still feel bad."

"You feel bad?" Summer asked miserably. "I feel horrible. I'm sick and stuck in bed on my birthday. You made all those plans that are useless now," she pouted. "This sucks!"

"Tell me about," Seth said as he rubbed her back. "Two hundred dollars for a limo. Another hundred for the booze. Plus your presents," Seth became even more depressed as he added the list of now useless expenses in his head. "I'm out close to five hundred bucks and you don't even get to enjoy it."

Summer's mouth fell open and her eyes widened. "Seth, you spent that much money?" Summer asked incredulously. "I can't believe you did that."

"I wanted you to have a good birthday," he answered shyly.

Summer smiled as her heart melted. "I appreciate it, but you know you didn't have to do that much. I would have been happy just having dinner with you." She sniffled as she said this and Seth wasn't sure if it was because of the cold or the emotion. "A limo and two hundred dollars on presents is too much."

"Not for you," Seth answered quietly but adamantly, his face turning red as he ducked his head away from her intense gaze. The confidence that he had slowly been gaining over the last ten months had completely disappeared.

Summer bit her bottom lip to stop herself from either "aw"-ing over his adorableness or crying. She wasn't sure which. The cold plus the medicine she had taken earlier had her emotions all out of whack. The plus side of having a doctor for a father was that you always got the strongest drugs, even for a simple cold.

When Seth finally looked back up Summer wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his neck. "I love you, Cohen," she mumbled against his skin.

Seth could only relish her words for a second before she started coughing into his neck. Seth cringed as Summer pulled away and hacked her lungs out in the other direction.

"Way to ruin the moment, Roberts," Seth commented when she finally finished.

"Shut up," she said as she smacked him across the chest.

"Sorry," Seth apologized, sounding truly sincere. "Do you want me to get you anything?"

Summer thought for a second before shaking her head.

"Do you want me to go so you can sleep?"

She shook her head again. "I wanted to spend my birthday with you and I still can. Even if I'm spaced out on cold medicine the majority of the night."

Seth smiled and leaned in to kiss her cheek. "I love you," he told her as he leaned back.

Summer couldn't help the huge smile that spread across her face. He just looked so damn cute every time he said it.

She was tempted to say it again but decided that one declaration of love from each of them was enough for one night. They didn't want to turn into Ryan and Marissa. Mushy, feely declarations of love every ten seconds wasn't really their thing. It was nauseating enough watching their best friends do it everyday.

So instead, Summer just gave him one more smile before pulling her comforter back over her and lying down again.

Seth smiled too and crawled over her so he lay down on her other side.

After a few seconds of silence, Summer turned her head to Seth and looked at him curiously. "What was the booze for?"

"Wha-? Oh," Seth realized when he remembered what he had said earlier. "The present me and Marissa were working on was a party. I was suppose to take you over there after dinner."

"How big was this party suppose to be? You guys had to spend a hundred dollars on drinks."

"Actually two hundred. Marissa paid half." At Summer's astonished look her explained further. "She invited about a hundred of your closest friends."

"Really?" Seth nodded. "So this was going to be a pretty big party?" she asked. She sounded disappointed.

"Well…" Seth started, "Three kegs, a variety of individually bottled beverages, and the run of Caleb Nichol's super mansion - I'd say yes, it was going to be a big party."

Summer groaned. "This totally sucks," she whined.

"I know," Seth soothed as he rubbed her back. "But there's always next year. And hey," he added, "My birthday's in a few months. Maybe you and Ryan can plan me a party."

"Yeah," Summer agreed unenthusiastically. "But I won't get presents at it."

Seth nodded. "This is true. But it's okay, I don't really want a big party anyways."

"Then what do you want?"

"I don't know," Seth answered as he considered the question. "Definitely something to do with comics," he concluded. "I'm a big fan of Wonder Woman," Seth added casually.

"Well you know, that costume wasn't a rental."

"Really?" Seth asked. "Then I think I know what I want for my birthday."

"Maybe if you're lucky."

"I like those odds. I tend to be pretty lucky."

Summer thought for a moment. "Well, you did get me."

Seth wrapped his arm around Summer's shoulders and kissed her temple. "That I did."

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Two days later Summer stood in the Cohen hallway banging on Seth's door. There was a huge sale and she was going to be pissed if she missed everything because Cohen made her late. She was back to her usual, healthy self.

"Cohen," she shout as she banged harder on his door with the palm of her hand. "Open this frigging door."

A few seconds later the door opened to reveal a misserable looking Seth wrapped in his comforter.

Summer sighed. "You're sick," Summer said matter-of-factly as she walked passed him and sat down on his bed.

Seth just nodded before diving head first into his bed next to her and groaning as he wrapped his comforter tighter around himself.

Summer halfheartedly rubbed his back with one hand in an attempt at soothing him. "Sorry I got you sick."

"It's okay," Seth mumbled as he leaned into her touch. he sounded as miserable as he looked.

Summer continued to rub his back for a few more seconds before giving it a final pat and standing up. "Feel better," she ordered as she bent down to kiss the side of his head. "I'll stop by later."

Seth looked up at her pitifully when he realized she was leaving. "Where are you going?" he asked pathetically.

"I told you yesterday - there's a huge sale."

Seth now looked dumbfounded on top of pathetic. "So you get me sick and now you're leaving me?"

"Cohen," Summer said sternly. She waited while he let out series of sneezes and then continued, "I can't miss this sale."

"I took care of you," he whined.

"I didn't ask you too."

"You're right," Seth agreed. "I offered to, because I'm a good boyfriend."

"I'm a good girlfriend," Summer defended herself. "I'm stopping by later. And I'll bring you soup," she added.

Seth shook his head in disappointment. "I risk my own health to take care of you and now you can't even return the favor."

"Cohen…" Summer whined. Seth's attempts at making her feel guilty were starting to work and she wanted to get out of there before he guilted her into missing the sale. "Don't make me miss this sale."

"I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to do. If you'd rather go shopping than help your sick boyfriend, go ahead," Seth said nobly. "I'll be here, in my bed. Miserable because I got sick from taking care of you."

Summer groaned, knowing that there was no way she could leave him now and not come off look like an uncaring bitch. Of course going shopping would come off bad when he put it like that.

Seth's face brightened as Summer sat back down on the bed and glared at him.

"I want to strangle you for making me miss this sale, Cohen."

"You wouldn't do that to a defesless, sick person, would you?" Seth asked innocently.

Summer's glare only intensified. "Try me," she challenged.

"No thanks," Seth stuttered as he shook his head.

"So," Seth asked after few more seconds of silence. "You wanna play Jenga?"

Summer rolled her eyes but she couldn't force herself to stay mad. He was staring at her with the most pitiful face, desperate for her to save him from the boredom that inevitably came with being sick and she just couldn't stay mad.

"Fine," she said and Seth immediately moved to reach under his bed and grab it. "But I don't see the point. I'm just going to kick your ass anyways," she said with a smile.

"I don't see why you would think that," Seth said as he lifted himself up and set the game on the bed in between them. "None of my Jenga-playing skills have been compromised on acount of my sickness."

"Well see," Summer said smugly.

Before Seth could respond he was taken over by a fit of sneezing and coughing.

When he finished thirty seconds later he reached over for a tissue and blew his nose loudly.

Summer cringed. "Eww. Now that's gross, Cohen."

"Don't kid yourself," Seth responded, trying to sound as sexy and suave as possible with a congested nose and throat full of phlegm. "I know this turns you on."

Summer laughed despite herself. Even when he was sick he was still the same Seth. Stupid, and goofy, and and hardly ever making sense, but still charming in his own way.

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Sorry this update took so long but vacation called and I answered. Thank you for all of the reviews. They're very much appreciated.


	6. chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

Thank you for all the reviews, they're really appreciated. I know that it seems like this story isn't really going anywhere but I promise that there is a direction I'm going with this story and I do have an end in mind. It's just going to take me a while to get there.

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Seth groaned as he stared down at his schedule. Six AP classes and his required PE credit were not going to make for a fun year. After the hellish junior year he had he was seriously considering just dropping all of his hard classes and resigning himself to going to some mediocre state school instead of Ivy league like his parents wanted.

Seth heard Ryan groan next to him and figured he was having the same thoughts.

"That bad?" Seth asked.

Ryan just groaned and nodded. He looked even more miserable than Seth felt.

They had both been blissfully ignoring the quickly approaching school year for the past two weeks. Now that it was registration week and they were standing in the middle of the school courtyard to pick up their final schedules, they could no longer deny it. School was starting in exactly a week and their last stress-free summer was about to be over. The summer breaks after this one would all be tainted with worries of college, jobs, and other depressing, adult topics. Seth cringed just thinking about it.

"How'd you do?" Ryan asked after a few seconds.

Seth's groan answered the question but he still handed over his schedule so Ryan could see for himself.

"Well…" Ryan skimmed the paper, "at least we've got first, second, fourth, and sixth together."

"Well that's pretty good," Seth consented. "Now let's hope Marissa and Summer can fill in our third, fifth, and seventh."

Ryan was able to nod before his attention was quickly drawn to something over Seth's shoulder and his face immediately changed from depressed to almost happy.

Seth knew what had caused the change in Ryan's mood as soon as he heard a perky voice greet, "Hey guys." Seth turned to see Marissa stepping out of the B-C line that her and Seth had been standing in to pick up their schedules. She looked nowhere near as miserable as Seth and Ryan had when they first saw their class lists and it almost sickened Seth. He had never understood the kids that would actually get excited about starting school but he wasn't the least bit surprised that Marissa was one of them.

"How'd you guys make out?" Marissa asked both of them, but she had already stepped passed Seth and was standing with her back to him so she could see Ryan's schedule.

"Pretty good, thanks," Seth said sarcastically from behind them as he stepped aside to allow room for Ryan and Marissa to compare schedules and gush over how great it was that they had so many classes together even though Seth knew they had already perfectly synchronized their class choices at the end of the last year to ensure a senior year full of joint projects, playing footsies under the table, and '_late night_'cramming sessions every other night.

Seth _really_ hoped that he and Summer never got that revolting. Speaking of Summer, Seth looked to the right down the long row of tables to where the end of the alphabet was picking up their schedules.

Seth and Marissa had been in the same line and Ryan had been right next to them at the A-B table. Summer, however, was all the way down at the other end of the courtyard standing in the long line of Q's, R's, and S's.

Seth made his way down to her and when he got closer he saw that she still had six people in front of her.

Summer reached for Seth's schedule as soon as she saw him walking towards her. "Let me see," she ordered, grabbing the paper out of Seth's hand as soon as he held it up.

Seth handed it to her and she immediately began scanning the list. Her face wrinkled in confusion. "You got Mr. Schmidt again?"

"Yeah. It's great, huh?" Seth asked sarcastically. "Lucky for me, he switched over to AP Calculus this year, so I get to have him for another fun filled year of mole watching."

Summer wrinkled her nose and a worried crease formed across her forehead. "AP Calculus?" she asked slowly, ignoring everything else he had just rambled.

Seth nodded and Summer frowned.

"What?"

"_I _signed up for AP Calculus," Summer responded gloomily.

Seth tried not to show his amusement, or his relief that he wasn't going to have to suffer through another year of staring at Mr. Schmidt's mole alone. He knew Summer wouldn't care to know that he preferred her misery as opposed to him being alone in Mr. Schmidt's class for another year.

Summer glared at his apparent pleasure in her pending misery. "This isn't funny, Seth," she scolded him seriously. "This sucks! I couldn't pay attention at all in his pre-Calc."

"That mole _can_ be distracting," Seth said solemnly with a knowing nod.

"Seriously!" Summer exclaimed. "Hasn't the guy ever heard of plastic surgery? That thing looks like it's got about a dozen different diseases manifesting in it."

"Well… Maybe you'll get lucky and you won't get Mr. Schmidt," Seth offered, even though they both knew that there was only one AP calculus class each year and the students who took it were stuck with whatever teacher taught it that year.

Summer was about to re-inform Seth of this fact when the person in front of her stepped away to reveal that she was next. She settled for rolling her eyes at him before stepping forward to the table.

"Roberts," she gave the woman her name.

The woman searched through the papers for about thirty seconds until she found Summer's schedule. She handed it to her and then promptly shooed her away to make room for the next person.

Summer stepped to the side of the table and studied her schedule.

"What'd you get?" Seth asked as he leaned over her shoulder anxiously to see.

She shrugged him off and turned away from him. "Chill, Cohen. Let me at least look before you start comparing to see what classes we have together."

Seth backed off and turned his head, looking slightly embarrassed. He hadn't mean to act like an overbearing boyfriend, but sometimes he couldn't help it when it came to Summer.

He had spent the majority of his school years just hoping Summer would be in his class so he would be able to look at her all day long instead of just a half an hour at lunch and another hour at recess.

Now, he was hoping for her to be in his classes so he could kiss her, and do those stupid class projects with her, and tease her or rub her shoulders from his seat next to her. _And_ _she_ _wanted him to be in her classes for the same reasons_. The whole thing was still kind of surreal to him.

A few seconds later, Summer finished and looked up at Seth.

"Well?" Seth asked expectantly.

"We have every class together except for third and sixth."

Seth initially looked happy but his face quickly changed to confused. "You took _five_ AP classes?"

Summer shrugged. "It's senior year. If I want to get into a good college I figured it was time to start being a little more serious about school."  
  
Seth smiled. He'd always known Summer was smart - hell, she was smarter than him in some subjects - he just always thought she never cared enough to actually apply herself.

"Well, that works out good for me," he said with a grin as they started walking towards the parking lot to meet Ryan and Marissa.

"And me," Summer replied with a smirk. "I get to copy all the homework and cheat off your test. Between you and Coop, I won't have to do any work at."

"What makes you think I'm going to let you cheat off of me? I'm a good kid, I follow the rules."

"Well, when you won't let me copy I'll just ask Marissa. She always lets me cheat."

"That's because you're a bad influence on her," Seth replied playfully as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You're just mad because _I_ refuse to let you corrupt me."

Summer raised an eyebrow and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Cohen, I already have corrupted you."

All Seth could do was smile because he knew she was right.

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"Ugh," Seth groaned later that day as he held his stomach. The four of them had planned to go out to lunch after picking up their schedules and when Seth had mentioned being in the mood for lobster it had been decided that they would be going to the Crab Shack. Seth kind of regretted that now.

"I told you not to get the biggest lobster in the tank," Summer said as she patted his tummy.

"One of these days I'm gonna finish one of these lobsters," Seth said stubbornly as he stared down at what remained of his giant crustacean.

"Well then why don't you work your way up instead of ordering the biggest lobster every time and stuffing yourself to the point where you want to throw up?" Marissa asked from across the table.

"Because it makes him feel manly," Summer answered for him as she sipped her water.

Seth smiled. "That's exactly right, Marissa. I'm a man and men don't order small lobsters. They order giant ones that cost a lot of money. It makes them feel powerful."

"Well you look pretty foolish and not at all powerful when you end up leaving half the lobster on your plate," Marissa argued.

"I'm okay with that as long as I look manly."

Ryan grinned in a amusement as he watched the exchange quietly.

"What are you grinning at?" Seth asked when he noticed. "Your lobster was only half the size of mine," Seth s pointed out arrogantly.

Ryan looked at his plate, then Seth's, and then back at his. "Yeah, but I finished all of mine, so in actuality, we ate like the same amount."

Seth nodded. "You make a good point," Seth acknowledged. "And it looks like you ate _more_ because your lobster is completely gone." Seth considered this new information for a bit then finally said, "I think I might try your approach next time."

"You do that," Ryan told him as he stood up. "In the mean time, Marissa and I are going to the movies. You guys can come if you want."

"What are you seeing?" Summer asked.

"The Notebook," Marissa replied giddily. "Sum, you should totally come."

Summer shook her head adamantly. "No thanks, Coop. So not my kind of movie."

"But Ryan Gosling's hot. He's totally worth it." Summer grinned at the confused look she saw forming on Ryan's face. She knew he was wondering who Ryan Gosling was.

"I don't think I could stomach two hours of nonstop, over dramatic love story. No matter how hot Ryan Gosling is."

"You're sure you don't want to come?"

"Definitely. I still remember trying not to gag when we went to see _A Walk to Remember_."

"Okay," Marissa gave up on Summer. "I take it you won't be joining us either, then?" She asked, turning to Seth.

"Damn straight," Seth said with a nod. "I only want to see movies with violence, sex, and fast cars."

Marissa raised a doubtful eye.

"It's part of my _manly_ phase," Seth explained. "Don't worry, I'll grow out of it soon."

"Good," Summer said, "because I think I prefer the wimpy, unmanly Cohen."

"Are you being sarcastic?" Seth asked her seriously.

Summer shook her head. "Nope. Guys with confidence bug me."

Seth turned to Ryan and Marissa and smiled proudly. "See you guys, this is why we work so well," he said, motioning between himself and Summer. "_She_ hates guys with confidence, and _I_ have absolutely none of it. It works out perfectly."

"That's a great foundation to base your relationship on," Ryan said sarcastically as placed the money to pay for his and Marissa's meal on the table.

"Thanks," Seth said in the same tone.

"Cohen," Summer pushed at his arm, "let me out. I have to pee before we go."

"I should probably go too," Marissa said to Ryan. "I don't want to have to go during the movie."

"Right, 'cause God forbid you miss a second of that mushy, romantic crap," Seth said as he slid out of the booth to let Summer go.

Marissa just rolled her eyes as she slid out past Ryan.

Seth laughed lightly as he watched her go before turning back to Ryan and raising an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Dude… _The Notebook_?"

"Yeah, so? It's not like I wanted to see it. I'm going for Marissa."

"Still, man. Not even Summer would be cruel enough to make me watch that."

"No," Ryan leaned in, "she's just cruel enough to make you get a manicure because she thought you're hands were to rough."

Seth's cheeks reddened and he sat back, looking around quickly to make sure no one was close enough to have heard that. Seth looked back at Ryan and leaned in again. "Dude, how did you know that?"

Ryan smiled. "_Summer_ tells Marissa _everything_, and _Marissa _tells me everything."

"That's totally not fair. Summer doesn't tell me everything that Marissa tells her about you."

Ryan didn't see that as a bad thing because he knew some of the things that Marissa had told Summer, and he definitely didn't want Seth to know them too. "I don't have a problem with that."

"Of course not. You're girlfriends not the one telling people that you get…" Seth looked around again before leaning in and whispering harshly, "_manicures_."

"Yeah, thank God. Because _that, _would be embarrassing."

Seth glared at him. "Whatever, man. Have fun at you're movie," he said as he threw his money down on the table. He turned to walk towards the bathroom to wait for Summer, but Ryan grabbed his arm before he could take two steps.

Seth turned and looked at Ryan strangely. "What?"

"Who's Ryan Gosling?"

"You mean the guy your girlfriend was gushing about referring to as hot?"

"You're girlfriend, too," he corrected.

"So," said in dismissal. "Summer thinks every other movies star is hot. I got over that insecurity after the whole '_Grady Bridges' _incident."

"Whatever, man. Just… who is he?"

Seth shook his head. "I don't know. He's obviously one of the guys in the movie you're about to see."

"Well, what else has he been in."

Seth thought for a second. "I think he might have been that dancing football player in _Remember the Titans._"

Ryan searched his memory for a second before he finally got a mental image. "I remember him. That guy was kind of…," he wrinkled his nose, "fruity. The girls thought that was hot?"

"Well, Summer's dating me… so I guess I could believe it. And, well… Marissa's dating you … so… maybe she saw him in a different movie?" Seth suggested.

"I hope so."

"You hope so, what?" Marissa had come back from the bathroom in time to hear the end of their conversation.

Ryan just kind of smiled and shrugged awkwardly. "Nothing."

Marissa looked at him strangely but said nothing.

"Ready to go?" Ryan asked after a few seconds.

"Yeah."

"Hey, wait," Seth requested as they turned to leave. "Where's Summer?" he asked Marissa.

"She's still in the bathroom. She was fixing her make up."

Seth groaned. "This is ridiculous. Why can't she pass a mirror without having to spend twenty minutes in front of it?" he asked rhetorically.

Marissa shrugged. "I can go in and tell her you're waiting, if you want."

Seth shook his head and looked towards the bathroom door for any sign of her coming out. "No thanks," he said finally. "I don't want her to yell at me for rushing her. I'll just wait."

"Okay," Marissa said. "Well… see you later. Have fun."

"I'll try," Seth responded dryly.

"Yeah, see you tonight, man," Ryan said over his shoulder as he ushered Marissa towards the exit with a hand on her back.

Seth just gave a halfhearted wave.

After a minute, he slowly dragged himself to the front of the restaurant and leaned against the wall outside of the woman's restroom. Another two minutes and Summer finally came out.

"Geez, did you fall in?" he asked as he lifted himself from the wall.

Summer rolled her eyes. "Looking good takes maintenance, Cohen," she said sternly as she pushed open the glass door that lead to the parking lot. "Not everyone is content with rolling out of bed, putting on the first clothes they see, and walking out of the house five minutes later," she said with a disapproving glances back at him.

"I resent that. It takes me _at least_ ten minutes to get out of the house."

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Summer studied her reflection in the mirror. She had bought a few thousand dollars worth of new clothes over the summer and now she had to narrow down her multitude of choices to just one outfit for the first day back to school. She had started her quest for the perfect outfit at about 7:00, and now, three and a half hours and one very bored boyfriend later, she had gotten nowhere.

"What do you think of this one?" she asked, turning from her reflection to Seth, who was sitting at her computer, playing what was probably his hundredth game of solitaire that night.

Seth's eyes scanned down her body. "It's good," he said after a few seconds and then turned back to his game.

Summer's face fell. "That's it? Good?"

Seth sighed and turned to look at her again. "It's _really _good… Perfect. Just like all the other outfits you've tried on."

She rolled her eyes. "That's a huge help. Thanks."

"What? I just told you that the last twenty outfits you tried on all looked perfect. How is that a bad thing."

"Because," Summer snapped, "getting the same feed back for every outfit does not help me decide which one I should wear tomorrow."

"What are you talking about? I said every outfit was perfect, which means that you don't have to worry about which one to wear tomorrow because no matter what, _you're gonna look perfect_."

"That was sweet… but still, absolutely no help. Thanks again."

Seth just rolled his eyes and shook his head as he stood up. "I think I'm gonna go."

"Why?"

"Well, you're kind of in a pissy mood and I'm obviously not helping… so I think it'd be best if I just left you alone."

Summer crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine. If you think I'm in a pissy mood, then go."

"That's what I'm doing." Summer glared at him and clenched her teeth in annoyance. "Okay…so I guess that's a '_no_' on the goodnight kiss… and a 'maybe I'll see you tomorrow'."

Summer nodded to both and Seth turned to leave.

He had the door halfway opened when Summer stopped him. "Wait, don't go," she said from behind him, sounding more desperate than annoyed like she had a few minutes ago. When Seth turned to see what she wanted she kind of bit her lip and looked at him pitifully for a couple of seconds before whining, "I need someone else's opinion, and the maids have horrible fashion sense."

"I gave you my opinion and you didn't like it."

"I liked it the first five times you gave it," she defended, "but '_perfect_' started getting a little redundant."

"Okay… so why don't you just call Marissa and get her opinion… or ask your step mom?"

Summer couldn't believe he had just told her to ask her step mother for anything, let alone fashion advice. "Okay… one, I don't ask my step mother for _anything_. Two, she dresses like a slut, and _I _don't want to go to school looking like a whore. And three, I guarantee you Marissa is doing this same thing to Ryan right now."

"Okay, I'm sorry about the step mom thing," he apologized. "And I can believe the Marissa/Ryan thing. But I still don't understand what you want _me_ to do!" he explained frantically. "I told you that everything looked good, and my knowledge of clothes doesn't extend much deeper than my opinion so I can't really give you anything else," he said sincerely. He was all out of sarcasm for the night so he just gave her the truth. "All I can say is that I think you look perfect in anything and anyone who doesn't agree isn't worth you trying to impress."

Now Summer felt bad for snapping at Seth and making him come over to help her. He was obviously doing his best to help her, and he was still being nice after she had been a bitch to him the whole night, so she couldn't really get mad at him. She gave him a small smile before making one last attempt. "So _all _the outfits were equally perfect? There wasn't even _one_ that was more perfect or less perfect?" she asked, coming across a lot nicer this time.

Seth sighed but still squinted in thought as he searched his brain for any particular outfit that stood out. "Well - and this is me personally. I can't speak for the rest of Harbor - but I kind of liked that one outfit… with the skirt and the blue shirt."

Summer dug through the pile of clothes on her bed and came up a minute later with a low-cut, blue top. "This one?"

"No, the one over in the corner," he pointed. "That one shows too much cleavage," he said, referring to the top in her hand.

Summer raised an eyebrow.

"Not that I mind… It's just that I think other guys might take to looking at it a little too much and that could make you uncomfortable," Seth explained. "I'm only looking out for you," he assured.

Summer rolled her eyes but smiled as she set down the one blue shirt and reached for the other.

"Yeah," Seth said when she held it up. "With that skirt, right there," he said, pointing to a short white skirt underneath a small pile of pants and other skirts.

When she held the outfit out in front of her so Seth could see he nodded approvingly. "Yes, _I_ like that one best," he said carefully.

Summer held the outfit out so that she could appraise it and nodded after a few seconds. "Okay."

Seth blinked and raised his eyebrows in question. "'_Okay'_ what?"

"'_Okay_' I'll wear it."

"That's it."

"Yep."

"_Yep_?" Seth questioned. "After more than three hours of tedious searching and appraising, that's it. _Yep_?"

Summer shrugged. "I figured after hours of making you watch me try on clothes, the least I could do is wear the outfit you liked best."

"If I knew that was the case, I would've told you what outfit I liked best hours ago."

"Yeah, but hours ago I wouldn't have felt guilty for making you sit here bored the whole night."

"But now you do?"

"Yeah, well… your little speech kind of pulled at my heart strings. I suddenly felt bad for making you spend your last night of break helping me pick out clothes."

Seth pushed some clothes aside and sat down on Summer's bed. "Well," Seth began to reason, "according to you, Ryan was doing the same thing tonight, and I have no other friends, so really… what else was I going to do?"

Summer sat down next to him and leaned against his side and smiled. "You're right, maybe I shouldn't feel guilty. And maybe we should check out a few more outfits before we make a final decision," she suggested teasingly.

Seth's eyes widened. "Well…" he started quickly, "maybe you should still feel a little guilty. I mean… _it was_ really sweet of me to come over here _on the last night of summer vacation_ and give you such great advice on all of your clothes."

Summer smiled and tilted her head up and kissed the corner of his mouth quickly. Usually she would have rolled her eyes or said something sarcastic at a comment like that, but tonight she must have found it kind of endearing because she just smiled up at him and entwined their fingers together.

Seth twisted his head to look down at her and he smiled back. She could be really sweet when she wanted to be, which, in truth, really wasn't that often. Seth was always kind of amazed when she would let her sarcastic and biting guard down for a few seconds in front of him. It was always nice to glimpse Summer's softer side occasionally and see that she really did care about him.

Seth liked that it didn't happen that often, though, because then it would sort of ruin the appeal. Just seeing this part of Summer every once in a while was all he needed to know that they were okay. Seth would actually start worrying about their relationship when Summer became open and sincere _all the time_. It was common knowledge that constant bickering that was periodically interrupted by intense making out was standard procedure for them and anything different was cause for concern.

"_I guess _it can wait until tomorrow," Summer replied jokingly as she rested her head in the crook of his neck. "I do still need to find outfits for the rest of the week, and since you give such great advice-"

"Or," Seth interrupted, "you could just _not_ decide your entire wardrobe for the whole month and be a little spontaneous. Picture this- You wake up, you look in your closet, and you just wear the first thing that looks good to you," Seth suggested. "You know… dress for how you feel that day. Don't force yourself into a tight little dress if you're more in the mood for pants," he advised seriously. "It helps to keep your energy flow positive."

Summer looked at him strangely but responded, "I'll keep that in mind," to humor him.

"That's all I ask," Seth said as he leaned back against the head board to get more comfortable. Summer came with him and leaned against his side as his arms instictively went around her midriff.

"Ugh," Seth groaned after a few minutes. "I really don't want to go to school tomorrow."

"I know," Summer said sympathetically.

Seth looked down at her skeptically. "No you don't. You were always one of those kids who liked going back to school."

"No, _that's Coop_," she corrected. "I just never minded it because the summer always got so boring and redundant after a while. But this summer didn't. It was fun and different and not the same old party at Holly's beach house every night."

"Right, 'cause nothing interesting ever happened at any of Holly's parties," Seth said sarcastically. "I mean, threesomes in bathtubs, getting beat up by the entire water polo team, guys sniffing a line of cocaine on a coffee table, and a guy showing up with a gun is nothing compared to my fast pace summers of videogames and sailing."

Summer rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean. It was always the same people doing the same predictable things every night."

"As opposed to this crazy summer," Seth replied. "You're totally right. Sailing, the beach, my grandfather's wedding, and shopping are way more exciting."

"Whatever," Summer gave up. "All I'm saying is that _I_ had a really good summer, and I'm sorry if it wasn't '_exciting_' enough for you."

"I had a really good Summer too," Seth finally admitted truthfully. "At the beginning of last school year, I thought that last summer was going to be the best one of my life, but I think this one beat it by a landslide," he shared hesitantly.

"Well, Coop's overdose kind of put a damper on last summer, but I'll definitely agree that this was my best summer."

Seth leaned down to kiss her but pulled away after a few seconds when he heard his phone ring and felt it vibrating in his back pocket.

Summer pulled away to give him room to retrieve it and looked at him questioningly until he told her who it was.

"It's my dad," Seth said after he looked at the display. He opened the phone and held it up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Seth, where the hell are you?" Sandy asked, sounding slightly worried.

"I'm at Summer's. Why?" he asked confused.

"It's 11:00," Sandy answered shortly.

"So?" Seth asked confused. "I've stayed at Summer's a lot later than this before."

"Yeah, but not on a school night. Seth, you know the curfew's 11:00 when you have school the next day."

"But, dad… technically it's still summer so school hasn't really started, therefore, I don't think that rule should be in place yet."

Sandy sighed. "I'll let you go on a technicality, but I want you home by 11:30."

"Okay," Seth sighed, then hung up before Sandy could give him anymore orders.

"You have to go?" Summer more stated then asked.

"Yep," Seth nodded.

"So I'll see you tomorrow?" he asked as he stood. Summer nodded and stood too. "Are we going with Ryan and Marissa or do you want to go separately?"

Summer shook her head. "Coop likes to get to school at an ungodly hour on the first day so I am definitely going to be driving separately. Plus, I want to make a Starbucks run," she added.

"I'll buy you a latte if you save me from the fury of Marissa Cooper on the first day of school and take me with you," Seth proposed.

Summer pretended to consider this for a few seconds before reaching up and kissing him quickly on the mouth. "Deal," she agreed as she pulled away. "But it better be a Vinti."


	7. chapter 7

I don't own it or anything else for that matter.

-----------------------------

"This totally sucks." Seth declared out of nowhere, breaking the silence that had settled over his room for the past hour. Him, Ryan, and Summer were scattered throughout his bedroom, each hunched over their European History text books with their notes scattered haphazardly around them.

It was a little less than four months into the school year and Ryan, Seth, and Summer were way past regretting the schedules they had picked. Why did they try so hard, anyway? They all had trust funds… or at least Seth and Summer did. Ryan wasn't so presumptuous to just assume that he was guaranteed some of the Cohen/Nichol fortune; but he wasn't so dense, either, to actually believe that Sandy and Kirsten would just leave him with nothing once he was out on his own.

Whether he would except once they actually broached the subject was a different story all together.

Marissa seemed to be the only one of the four that wasn't endlessly complaining about her class load or bitching about pulling all-nighters for an European History exam that was taking place the day before Thanksgiving break began; hence the reason Seth, Summer, and Ryan were meticulously combing over their notes at 1:00 on the Tuesday morning of their last day of school before their five day holiday.

None of them had any idea why Marissa was handling school so well, but Summer reasoned that the constant study sessions and tons of homework were good excuses to feed Julie _Nichol_ whenever she asked why Marissa was never home, or when she was home, why she never came out of her room.

In fact, Marissa had just left about thirty minutes earlier, confident that the constant studying she had done over the past week would earn her a passing grade on Mr. Hammond's test the next day.

Ryan, Seth, and Summer had limited their study time for the test to this single cram session, which meant they had a lot longer to go before they could call it a night.

Unfortunately, once Marissa and her Nazi like study regime had left, they hadn't gained much ground.

Summer couldn't stop her mind from wandering to the Day-After-Thanksgiving sales, Ryan couldn't keep his eyes open from lack of sleep, and Seth couldn't keep his eyes off where Summer's miniskirt had significantly ridden up.

It wasn't until Summer took a stretching break, sufficiently replacing her skirt to its proper length, that Seth finally broke out of his daze and spoke.

Ryan yawned as he was broken out of his own half-conscious daze. "I know man, but we need to study for this test. It counts for ten percent of the quarter grade and I'm just barely holding onto my Bright now."

Seth rolled his eyes. "You've got an 82, that's a solid B."

"It's a B-, Seth," Ryan said dryly.

"Maybe, but that means all you need is a C to keep you're grade, and we've done enough studying to at least get a C."

"It's easy for you to be so calm about this- you have an A-," Ryan pointed out.

"Well, you could have an A if you hadn't spent all your time in class playing footsies with Marissa and all you're study sessions making out," Seth replied unsympathetically.

"And I'm sure the hours you two spent in here with the door closed every night were all spent studying," Ryan commented sarcastically.

"The nights before tests were," Seth replied coolly.

"They were," Summer yawned as she finally jumped into the conversation after an uncommon bout of silence. "Cohen never tried anything because he knew I'd kick his ass if I failed the test."

Seth glared at Summer for a few seconds before turning back to Ryan and nodding. "Well I wasn't going to divulge that much…but yeah, that's basically how it happened."

Ryan shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Well, if you weren't deathly afraid of your girlfriend, you would probably be in the same position as me so your whole superior attitude is kind of void because you studied due to conditions beyond your control."

Seth shook his head and smiled smugly. "Doesn't matter, dude. I still studied, which means I don't have to study anymore tonight."

Ryan's mouth opened in protest. "But I still need to study and I'll fall asleep if I'm by myself."

"Sorry to tell you, but you already were sleeping," Summer said as she got up from leaning against Seth's bed and began gathering her notes in preparation to leave. "Besides, I'm with Cohen. I have an 85, which _is_ a pretty solid B, so a C on the exam will suit me just fine."

"You guys are horrible friends," Ryan said seriously as he slammed his book shut, secretly thankful for an excuse to stop studying and go to bed.

"We may be," Seth said as he stood from where he had been sitting next to Summer against the bed, "but at least we'll be well-rested horrible friends with a guaranteed B on our report cards."

"Hor-ri-ble," Ryan reiterated with a yawn as he trudged out the door.

----------------------------------

"Dude, wake up." Seth shook the foot that was hanging off the end of the bed.

Ryan mumbled incoherently and rolled over in an attempt to get away from the shaking and the noise.

"Come on, man," Seth spoke a little more loudly as he moved to shove Ryan's shoulder. "Summer's gonna be pissed. We've been waiting for like ten minutes. We thought you were getting ready."

"What time is it?" Ryan groaned as he looked at his bedside clock and waited for his eyes to adjust.

"It's like seven," Seth said as he pulled up his sleeve to look at his watch.

Ryans eyes suddenly widened and he sat up. "We have to be at school in thirty minutes. _The test _is in thirty minutes!"

"Yeah…" Seth nodded and answered slowly, "which is why you have to hurry and be ready in the next five minutes or else you're gonna have to find another way to school."

Ryan shook his head in an attempt to clear it. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I told you, we thought you were just getting ready." Seth glanced next to Ryan at the open text book and the scattered notes. "How late did you stay up?"

Ryan shut his eyes tight and rubbed them as he tried to remember. "The last time I looked at the clock it was like 3:30."

Seth shook his head in disbelief. "Do you even remember any of the things that you studied."

Ryan shook his head and groaned.

"Don't worry, dude," Seth said dismissively as he walked towards the door. "You're one of those kids that can not study at all and still pull an A- out of his ass."

Ryan nodded in his sleepy state but then looked at Seth strangely. "No I'm not."

"We'll today would be a good day to get in the habit of that."

Ryan groaned again as he through his blankets off of him and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

Seth went to walk out but then doubled back around. "Oh yeah, Summer told me to tell you that if you're not out in five minutes she's leaving you… and we just wasted two minutes talking, so you better hurry."

--------------------------------------

"That wasn't so bad," Ryan said confidently as he exited Mr. Hammond's classroom.

Seth came out behind him looking defeated. "What are you talking about? That was horrible! I'll be lucky If I get a D."

"I thought it was okay," Marissa agreed with Ryan as she walked up beside him and took his hand.

"That test sucked so bad," Summer stated as she huffily made her way out of the room. "That was ridiculous. What was with all the essay questions?"

"I know!" Seth agreed fervently. "It was like he wanted us to memorize the freakin' book."

"If I fail, it's totally not my fault. That test was completely unfair," Summer declared loudly, glaring in the direction of Mr. Hammond who was standing by his door.

"You guys, the test wasn't that hard," Marissa said condescendingly.

"Maybe for you," Seth snapped. "You probably _did_ memorize the book. You spend like six hours a day studying."

"Lucky for you. If it wasn't for me, you two probably wouldn't study at all," she accused, gesturing towards Seth and Summer.

"Hey," Seth said defensively, "That's not true. We studied for thirty minutes after you left last night."

"Yeah," Summer agreed. "It was _Ryan_ who couldn't stay awake. Why don't you ever reprimand him?"

"Because I'm not complaining about how hard the test was."

Summer glared at him for a second before waving her hand dismissively. "Whatever. That test sucked."

Seth nodded beside her.

Marissa just shook her head. "Whatever," she repeated Summer's previous statement. "I have to get to second." She readjusted her purse on her shoulder as she stared at Ryan expectantly.

"Right," Ryan got the hint. "I'll walk with you. I'll see you guys in class," he called to Seth and Summer over his shoulder.

Seth and Summer gave each other a knowing smile. He was so whipped. It was hard to believe the same guy that had almost taken the whole water polo team on more than one occasion so easily buckled under the stare of Marissa Cooper.

"I don't feel like going to class," Summer declared out of nowhere after a minute.

Seth looked at her strangely. "What do you want me to do about that?"

Summer rolled her eyes. "You don't have to do anything, but I'm leaving."

"We have a test in fourth," Seth stated simply, as if that put an end to the whole idea.

Summer shrugged her shoulders indifferently as she started walking towards the exit leading to the courtyard. "We'll make it up next Monday," she called over her shoulder when she realized he wasn't following her.

Seth switched his gaze repeatedly between Summer and the way to his next class as he deliberated. Class offered notes, lectures, tests, and homework. Summer offered the beach, a movie, or, if he was lucky, her bedroom. After laying out the options, the choice became obvious and he was walking out the exit in front of Summer before she had even figured out what he was doing.

---------------------------------

"What time should I come over Thursday?" Summer asked as her and Seth walked through the front door of the Cohen home. They'd gone to see a movie after they left school, and had hung out at Summer's until after 3:00, when school was suppose to let out. Sandy had been working on his cases from home lately, so if they had shown up at 1:00 when they were supposed to be in sixth period he would have gotten a little suspicious.

"Sometime after twelve," Seth offered over his shoulder as they made their way towards the kitchen. "You can come whenever you want, but anytime before then and you're likely to get crushed in the morning rush."

Summer nodded, assuming the rush would be due to the half dozen caterers Kirsten probably hired to cook Thanksgiving dinner as a result of last year's disaster. After eight months of dating Seth and spending more time at the Cohen house than she did at her own, she knew dam well that Kirsten Cohen was not allowed to cook under any circumstances what so ever.

When they reached the kitchen Summer took a seat at the island while Seth opened the fridge and came out with two bottles of water and some leftover takeout from the night before. He handed Summer her water, then turned to take down two plates from the cabinet.

"So who's your mom getting to cater dinner?" Summer asked to his back as she took a sip of her water.

Seth turned and set the two plates on the counter as he shook his head. "She's not."

Summer's eyes widened in what Seth interpreted as a mix of fear and amusement. "She's not going to try to cook again, is she?"

Seth shook his head again. "No, the Nana's going to cook."

Summer's eyes widened again, but this time in pleasant surprise. "You didn't tell me the Nana was coming."

Seth smiled as he put the two plates of Chinese food in the microwave. "That's because we didn't know until yesterday."

Summer smacked his shoulder as he turned around and took a seat across from her. "Why didn't you tell me last night?"

Seth shrugged. "I didn't think it was that big of a deal."

"What are you talking about? I love the Nana. The Nana's awesome."

Seth looked at her strangely. "The Nana's mean."

Summer rolled her eyes. "Not to me. She said she liked me because I reminder her of herself when she was younger."

Seth shook his head in mock confusion. "But that can't be right. You're not Jewish, and the Nana doesn't like any of her family dating some one who's not Jewish. Plus, every once in awhile you're actually kind of nice."

"So. She said that it was good you were dating me because I'd keep you in line."

Seth looked at her incredulously. "She obviously doesn't know you that well because it's _me _that has to keep _you_ in line half the time."

"Right, Cohen" Summer agreed sarcastically. "'cause it's me that hid Ryan in a model home, drove us off the road on the way to Tijuana, and spent five thousand dollars on Vegas hookers."

"Hey! Two of those things were your fault."

Summer fought to keep her water in her mouth as she snorted indignantly at Seth's accusation. "How do you figure?"

"I wouldn't have driven us off the road if you hadn't been so annoying, and I wouldn't have even been looking at girls in Las Vegas if you hadn't broken up with me because of your father."

"First of all, you were the one being annoying on the way to T.J., and second, you're right, the Vegas thing wouldn't have happened at all if you were with me so that just proves my point. You would be hopeless without me."

Seth just shook his head but still smiled in amusement. "You're so full of it."

Summer glared at him and stuck out her tongue. "You're only saying that because you know I'm right."

"Oh that's mature. I'm pretty sure that if the Nana was here right now she would change her opinion of you."

Summer shook her head. "I doubt it. But she might change her opinion of _you_ if she knew about the Vegas hookers."

"What's this about Vegas hookers?" Seth heard the imploring voice of his grandmother ask from behind him.

Seth closed his eyes and held his breath while he prayed that she would just disappear. When he opened them he was still staring at Summer, only now she was biting her lip hard and squeezing her eyes shut tight to keep from laughing. Seth looked at her desperately to fix the situation.

"Seth?" he heard the Nana ask again and he groaned.

"It's an inside joke," he finally heard Summer say as she gave him a look stating that he clearly owed her. "One of our friends had a little mishap while he was in Vegas."

"Oh," Nana Cohen nodded skeptically as she walked further into the kitchen to meet Summer halfway in a hug.

When she pulled away she looked at Seth, who had finally turned around to face her, expectantly. "Don't I get a hug?"

"Of course," Seth answered quickly as he finally let out the breath he was holding. "What are you doing here?" he asked as he embraced her in a hug. "I was suppose to pick you up in an hour."

"My flight got in early and no one answered the phone when I called so I just took a cab," she said sweetly as she pulled away.

"Oh," Seth said as he took note of her sweetness. This was two visits in a row that she had been uncharacteristically nice. Last time she had cancer. What was it this time? Was she okay? Had the cancer gotten worse? "Nana, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said as she took a seat at the breakfast table. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Seth shook his head. "No reason. I just wanted to make sure the treatment was going well and you weren't going to drop anymore bombs on us."

The Nana gave him a weird look. "No… I just wanted to spend Thanksgiving with my son and his family. Is that allowed?"

"Yeah, of course it is," Seth answered guiltily as he and Summer sat down with her at the table. "So how is the treatment going?" he asked cautiously.

The Nana sighed. "Well… it's going. Dr. Tally said I'm responding well, and I can't ask for much more than that."

"And you're feeling okay?" Summer asked just as cautiously.

"For the most part," the Nana nodded. "The chemo takes a lot out of me," she added casually.

Seth and Summer nodded awkwardly. It was weird having such a serious adult conversation when they were just talking about Tijuana and prostitutes two minutes ago.

"Can I get you anything? Are you hungry? Thirsty? How was the flight? Do you want me to get your bags?" Seth came out suddenly with a barrage of questions after a minute of uncomfortable silence.

"I'm fine," the Nana answered slowly in response to Seth's quick pace. "My flight was fine, I don't need anything, and my bag is in the foyer. I can get it later."

"Right," Seth answered as he sat back down in his seat before moving to the edge of it again a second later. "Do you want me to get my dad? He's upstairs in his office."

"That would be nice."

Seth stood up and started walking towards the doorway but stopped when his dad walked in.

"Ma?" Sandy asked dumbfounded. "What are you doing here? You're flight doesn't get in for another hour and a half."

The nana sighed and gave Sandy the same answer she had given Seth and Summer only to have Sandy answer her with the same barrage of questions that Seth had just asked her.

------------------------------------------------

"Ah… Mom! What are you doing in here? And why do you have an oven mitt on your hand?" Seth demanded as soon as he entered the kitchen and saw his mom hunched over a half-cooked turkey on Thanksgiving morning. "Does Nana know you're in here?"

Kirsten rolled her eyes and continued to take the turkey out of the oven. "Yes," she answered smugly. "Your grandmother asked me to help."

"Are you sure? Maybe she asked you to leave and you just misheard her."

"It was actually more like she asked if she could do anything to help and I told her she could check on the turkey while I ran to the bathroom," Seth heard his nana answer from behind him. Why did she keep doing that to him?

"Nana," Seth turned on his heel and greeted her. "Good morning," he got the pleasantries out of the way before starting in. "Are you sure that was a good idea? My dad has told you what a horrible cook my mom is, right? Have you heard about last thanksgiving?"

"Yes, yes, yes to all three," the Nana shook her head and smiled in amusement as she walked passed Seth and stepped in front of Kirsten to check on the turkey.

Kirsten stuck her tongue out at Seth victoriously from behind the Nana.

"Besides, how much harm could your mother do if she was just checking a turkey?" the Nana added with her head still down inspecting the turkey.

"You'd be surprised," Seth answered absently as he smiled at his mother and stuck his own tongue out at her.

Kirsten's mouth now fell open in offense and she glared at the back of the Nana's head. "Sophie," she whined indignantly, "that's not very nice. How am I gonna learn to cook anything if you won't actually give me anything hard to do?"

"Well," Sophie said as she raised her head and looked at Kirsten, "You won't, dear. That's the point."

"Listen to her mom, she's a very wise woman."

Kirsten's gaze turned from Sophie to Seth and She rolled her eyes. "You… why don't you go find your girlfriend instead of standing in here insulting me all morning?"

Seth's head perked up and his eyes narrowed in confusion. "My girlfriend? What's she doing here, it's only ten?"

Kirsten shrugged. "She got here at nine mumbling something about her stepmother and a turkey baster at 7:30 in the morning."

Seth looked around, as if waiting for Summer to walk in and greet him. After a few seconds he looked at his mother expectantly. "Well, where is she?"

"Oh, I put her to work."

"Doing what? You know Summer's not fit for hard labor."

Kirsten nodded knowingly. "Yeah, I figured, so I asked her to go out and buy some nice, festive decorations. Who wants to eat Thanksgiving dinner on a plain old table cloth with plain white napkins?"

"So you sent her out to buy a _festive_ tablecloth and _festive_ napkins?"

"Yeah… and anything else she thought might be good," Kirsten added as she stared intently over Sophie's shoulder as she basted the turkey.

"You didn't give her your credit card did you?" Seth asked as a look of worry graced his face.

"Yeah," Kirsten nodded and smiled as she looked up at Seth briefly.

"So you gave Summer Roberts your credit card and basically told her to get anything that _'she thought might be good'_?"

"Yeah," Kirsten answered a little less cheerfully. "Was that not a good idea?"

"No, no, it probably wasn't," Seth said calmly as he shook his head. "Because there's a pretty good chance she might come back with a whole new dining room set."

Kirsten's eyes widened in worry. "Summer wouldn't do that."

Seth nodded. "You're right mom, the sweet, nice Summer you know wouldn't do that, but you haven't seen the Summer who's eyes glaze over and loses all logical thought as soon as she enters a store with a credit card in her hand."

Kirsten's mouth opened to say something else but the opening and closing of the front door interrupted her before she could get it out.

Seth glanced in the direction of the front door forebodingly. "I'm going to go see what the damage is," he said solemnly as he walked out.

He entered the foyer to see Summer carrying one brown paper bag that looked to be half full.

"Cohen," she acknowledged as he walked up to her.

"Summer?" he said expectantly.

"What?"

"Where's the rest of it?"

"Rest of what?" she asked, clueless.

"The rest of what you bought with my mom's credit card."

"This is it," she answered as she handed him the bag and walked passed him towards the dining room.

"Yeah right. Summer it is physically impossible for you to go into a store and only come out with one bag."

"Cohen," Summer said indignantly as they reached the dining room and she turned around to face him again. "I am hurt. I would not use your mom's credit card to buy out the whole store."

"Oh," Seth nodded, "so you only do that with my money?"

"Exactly," Summer answered as she took the bag back from him and set it on the table.

"So what did you get?"

"Well…" she said as she rummaged through the bag, "If you would just be a little patient you would see." After another few seconds she smiled and pulled out an orange and brown table cloth decorated with turkeys and cornucopias along with matching napkins and cups. "Are these not totally cute?"

"Summer…" Seth said slowly as he assessed the sight before him, "I never knew you could be so domestic. What happened to shoes and nail polishes being '_totally cute'_?"

"Shut up, Cohen," Summer said dismissively as she shrugged him off and retreated back into the bag. "You just don't want to admit that I did good."

"Yeah, that must be it."

Summer ignored him as she pulled something else out of the bag and turned her back to him so he couldn't see.

After a minute she turned back around to face him with a triumphant, "Ah Ha!" In her hand she held the biggest, most tacky paper turkey centerpiece he had ever seen.

"What is that for?" he tried to ask as seriously as possible.

Summer huffed in annoyance. "It's the centerpiece. Duh."

"I don't even think I've seen something that hideous in all my years spent at the kiddy table."

"It's cute!"

"You know that we'll never hear the end of this from my Grandpa."

"Your Grandpa's a boring old man who needs to get the stick out of his ass and lighten up during the holidays."

"My Grandpa _is_ a boring old man," Seth agreed, "but the stick up his ass is Julie Cooper, so I don't think he'll be getting it out anytime soon."

"I'll be sure to tell your Grandpa you said that," Seth heard Kirsten say from behind him as she came out of the kitchen and walked passed him to look at the goods Summer had returned with.

"Why does that keep happening to me?" Seth mumbled as Summer smiled in amusement and Kirsten ignored him.

"Oh, Summer, these are great! They're so cute!" Kirsten squealed as she looked through Summer's decorations.

"I know!" Summer squealed in return as she looked pointedly at Seth and stuck her tongue out.

"What is with you two today?" Seth mumbled as he turned to walk into the kitchen.

Sophie Cohen looked up from her stuffing to see Seth mumbling and shuffling his way towards the fridge. When he opened it and came back out with a leftover piece of pizza she was there to grab it out of his hand and throw it in the garbage before he could take a bite.

"You're going to ruin your appetite. You're just like your father… always eating."

"Exactly… which means I can handle a piece of pizza and an entire Thanksgiving dinner just fine."

"We'll you'll handle your Thanksgiving dinner just fine without that piece of pizza," she said in a dignified tone as she continued to mix her stuffing. "What are you doing in here anyways? I thought you were assessing Summer's damage."

"Oh, I did."

"And?"

"It was a tragedy, but my mother doesn't seem to agree. She thinks they're '_great!'_," he said in a high voice in a very bad attempt to sound like Kirsten. "Is it bad that my mother and my girlfriend get along better with each other than they do with me?"

The Nana shrugged as she considered the question. "I would think it's a good thing," she finally answered seriously. "I didn't get along with your mother at all and I ended up not seeing my son for years."

"Right," Seth nodded awkwardly. Boy had this conversation turned awkwardly serious, very quick.

"I like Summer," the Nana declared out of nowhere with a nod. "She reminds me of myself."

"So I've heard," Seth mumbled.

"You guys must be pretty serious," she inquired casually. "You've been together for awhile. You must really like each other."

"Yeah," Seth agreed as he nodded uncomfortably. "We get along pretty well for the most part," he added sarcastically.

Sophie sighed, ignoring his smart ass comment. "It's weird, I've watched all of your cousins grow up, but you… I see you once every other year if I'm lucky. With all your cousins it was like they couldn't grow up fast enough. With you, it's like you've grown up over night."

"Well time flies when you're completely miserable," Seth commented lightly.

Sophie looked at him curiously. "I always told your dad that you would have been so much happier back home. It just seems like you and your father are so out of your element all the way out here."

"It's really not that bad," Seth tried to defend, even though for years he had thought the exact same thing. He had always wanted to be in New York with the rest of his family.

"I remember when you were nine, you guys came to New York for Passover and you just fit in so well. You seemed to be so much happier those few days than I had ever seen you when I came here to visit."

"Yeah," Seth agreed obediently, "that was really fun."

"When was the last time you came to New York to visit?"

"Uh…" Seth thought, "I actually think that was it. Mom and Dad were both so busy that we didn't get too many chances to leave Newport for days at a time."

"That's what I thought," Sophie said with a nod. "I've been thinking," she started hesitantly, "that maybe you should come visit me in New York over your winter break."

"You mean like all of us?" Seth asked, referring to himself, his parents, and Ryan.

"Well, no… Like you said, your parents are busy, and I don't think Ryan would be entirely comfortable. I was talking about just you. You obviously won't get out of school in time to come for Chanukah, and I know how much you love your Christmas, but maybe afterwards you could come for a few days."

Seth nodded as he considered the idea. "Yeah, that could be cool."

"And your aunts and uncles would love to see you. Most of their kids have all grown up so they need someone to devote all of their attention to."

"That could be fun," Seth agreed, although now he wasn't so sure he wanted to go. Spending five days being smothered by his aunts and having them coo about how big he'd gotten wasn't his idea of a vacation.

"Great, we'll talk to your parents about it after dinner," Sophie concluded.

"Great," Seth agreed before walking out of the kitchen in a daze, still trying to process what had just happened.

When he reentered the dining room, he found Summer placing all of her "cute" cups and napkins on top of the tacky paper tablecloth that her and his mom had obviously just put on.

"What's with you?" she asked when she looked up to see the lost expression on his face.

"I think I'm going to New York for winter vacation."

"What?"

"The Nana just asked if I wanted to come to New York for a few days over winter vacation and I think I agreed."

"What about Christmas?" Summer asked worriedly. "I'm going to be pissed if I have to spend Christmas with my stepmother and her family because you left."

Seth shook his head and sat down in one of the chairs. "No, I think I'm going after Christmas."

Summer set the napkins left in her hand down on the table and sat in one of the chairs next to Seth. "We'll what about New Years? You better be here for New Years, Cohen" she ordered harshly. She was going to be pissed if he was partying it up in Times Square while she was alone at one Holly's stupid parties on their first New Years together.

Seth thought about it, then shook his head again. "No, I'll only be going for a few days so I'll make sure I get back before New Years."

Summer nodded. "Well, do you want to go?" she asked after a few seconds. "You don't sound very into it."

Seth shrugged then nodded. "I think I do. I remember I used to love visiting there when I was a kid. I always wished I could live there instead of here."

"Why?"

"Because there were other kids like me there. I don't know if you guessed, but I got a little self-conscious being the only Jewish kid in Orange County. When every other little boy was spiking their hair and frosting their tips, I couldn't even get my Jew fro to lay flat."

"Good," Summer answered quickly, "I always liked your Jew fro."

"I thought you didn't even know who I was back then?"

Summer smiled and shrugged. "Well, I may have noticed you every once in awhile. It's hard not to notice hair that big."

Seth grinned. "Well if I had known that, I may not have spent so many years wishing I lived in New York."

Summer smiled wider, but then her face fell a little. "Well you know now, so I don't see why you have to go to New York," she said hesitantly, trying not to sound like she cared too much.

Seth smiled. She was so cute when she was all self-conscious. "Because I still like it there, and it would be nice to see my family," he explained slowly, as if he was talking to a child. "But I'll definitely miss you," he added sweetly.

Summer rolled her eyes and shrugged indifferently, but she couldn't help the smile that spread across her lips. "Well that's a given, Cohen."

"Of course," Seth didn't even try to argue. "You'll miss me too, though, right?"

"Eh…" Summer pretended to think. "Only if your ass isn't back by New Years Eve."

"Well, what about the rest of me?"

" I might miss that too," she grinned as she leaned forward to kiss him.

"Well, that's a given," he grinned as he pulled away a few seconds later.

Summer smacked his shoulder. "You're so cocky Cohen."

"I get it from you."

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At 4:00, Seth and Summer sat down at the table along with his parents, Ryan and Marissa, Jimmy and Hailey, Julie and Caleb, and the Nana. This was going to be one hell of a Thanksgiving dinner.

As they all settled down, Caleb cleared his throat to draw the attention of everyone. "Sanford, why don't you do the honor of saying grace…," he started politely with an uncharacteristic show of respect towards his son-in-law. "Jewish people do say grace, right?" he added. That was more like it.

Sandy rolled his eyes while Kirsten glared at her dad sternly from her seat across form him.

Seth snorted as he bit his bottom lip and squeezed Summer's hand underneath the table to keep from laughing. This was going to be ten times more entertaining than last years Thanksgiving.


	8. Chapter 8

AN: So I know it's been a crazy long time since I let this go, but I'm now attempting to finish it. After all, I can only shamefully turn away from so many inquiries as to what happened to it before I can't take the guilt anymore. So, anyway, here's chapter 8. It's not as long as the other chapters, but it's a start.

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Sandy struggled to get the front door open with his hand full two bags of Thai food that Kirsten had called and asked him to pick up. With some very awkward maneuvering he managed to get the door knob turned and breathed a sigh of victory as the door swung open in front of him.

And as he walked pass the threshold he was greeted with rather flustered-looking Kirsten making her way down the stairs towards him

"Hey," he greeted with a toothy smile. "You look a little stressed. Is there a Chrismukkah emergency Seth has you working on or something?"

"Um… a Chrismukkah emergency, yes. But, surprisingly, Seth actually has nothing to do with it," Kirsten answered as she greeted him with a brief kiss and relieved him of one of the bags. "I just got off the phone with the caterers and they confirmed my order for a ten pound ham," she informed him, looking quite exasperated at the news.

"So what's the problem?" he asked, confused.

She sighed. "There's going to be eleven people here for dinner tomorrow night, Sandy. We can't depend on ten pounds to feed them all."

"Well how much did you tell them you needed?"

"I ordered two ten pound hams a month ago, and they wait until the night before Christmas Eve to call and confirm _the wrong _order because they got it mixed up with some family in Huntington!"

"Kirsten, calm down," he tried to appease her, his spirits staying high. "Don't worry about the ham. So the caterers messed up? I'll just go out and get an extra ham tomorrow morning."

"On Christmas Eve, Sandy?" she asked pointedly. "You're not going to be able to find one within a 100 mile radius."

"Oh, I will," he stated, determined, as he turned and started towards the kitchen. "I will get you that ham if I have to drive all the way to Mexico."

Kirsten just smiled and shook her head as she followed him into the kitchen. She found Sandy already retrieving the multitude of takeout boxes from his bag and placing them open on the counter so that people could serve themselves.

When he heard her follow him in he turned and greeted her with a smile. "So, aside from the baked ham fiasco how was the rest of your day? Has your dad been taking it easy on the workload in honor of the holiday?"

"Oh, you know dad…" she started as she joined him at the counter and began setting the contents of her bag next to the boxes he had already laid out. "No occasions an occasion to slack, but… he agreed to give everyone tomorrow and Christmas off with no flack, so he can't be accused of being a total Scrooge."

"Caleb Nichol? Scrooge? Huh?" he mockingly pondered. "I never would have made the connection…"

"You…" Kirsten said, landing a pointed index finger to his chest and giving him a knowing smile, "Have got to promise to lay off my father for the holidays. I don't want a repeat of Thanksgiving tomorrow night."

"What?" he smiled innocently. "I would never dream of getting into it with your father over Chrismukkah dinner. Besides, he's the one who started it on Thanksgiving."

"Sandy," Kirsten warned. "You two spent the entire meal arguing about politics-"

"Which was spurred on by the holiday itself… Honey, Thanksgiving basically celebrates the advent of the genocide of the American Indian," he tried to defend. "It was a debate that needed to be had. Your father and I just offered up our services for the task."

"Hmm," Kirsten eyed him warily, but she couldn't help the small smile that spread across her lips. "Well don't offer up your services tomorrow night, okay. An uneventful holiday with shallow talk about the weather and the crowds at the mall would be nice for once."

"I promise," Sandy smiled, leaning in the seal his commitment with a kiss. "Besides," he continued as he pulled back. "Your son already got to me and said a repeat of Thanksgiving would not be acceptable for Chrismukkah."

"Oh, well I'd listen to him. He's far scarier than I am when it comes to this time of year."

"Don't I know it? He threatened to cut off my bagel supply."

"Oh, no," she gasped playfully and leaned in to plant another quick kiss on his lips before turning to the cabinet to pull out plates.

"Where is our young Chrismukkah slave driver, anyway?" Sandy asked, peaking into the living room to see if he was attached to the Playstation per usual. "Was he staying at Summer's for dinner?"

"Oh, no, he's upstairs with her right now. I had just told them dinner would be here soon when you walked in so they should be down any minute."

"So, did Seth tell you about his Christmas present for her?" Sandy asked, smiling.

"Yes," Kirsten cooed. "And I think it is so sweet."

"Yeah," he agreed absentmindedly, his attention focused in the direction of the stairs. "They've gotten pretty serious, huh?"

"Well they've been dating awhile, Sandy. It'll be a year in February," Kirsten offered in explanation.

"You know Seth submitted his college applications last week," he informed her with a knowing look.

Kirsten nodded. "And…?"

"And most of them were back east," he finished, eyeing Kirsten for her opinion on the matter.

"Yeah, I know…" she sighed, her own stomach twisting in knots at the possibility of him going so far way.

"So what do you think that'll mean for them? Summer doesn't strike me as a girl in favor of wearing layers and snowy days."

"No, me neither," she agreed. "But like I said, they've been together almost a year. I'm sure they've talked about it. For all we know Summer could have put in several applications in the east. And Seth did apply to some schools over here."

"Yeah," Sandy agreed, shrugging his shoulder in a hope-for-the best kind of manner.

Just as he was about to ask what else he could do to help set up for dinner, he was halted by the sound of two new voices approaching the kitchen.

"I still don't understand what a movie about arm wrestling has to do with Christmas, Cohen?"

An exaggerated sigh reached the kitchen before Seth's words ever did. "I told you, _Over the Top_ has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas… but it has everything to do with _Chrismukkah_."

"And speaking of our son," Sandy smiled, turning towards the door. "Here comes the Chrismukkah Nazi now."

"Hi," Summer greeted them with a friendly wave as she walked passed them and into the center of the kitchen.

"Hey," Seth threw over his shoulder as he passed by his parents and followed closely behind Summer.

"I still don't get what some Sylvester Stallone movie has to do with the holidays at all, Cohen," Summer stated defiantly. "Why do we have to watch it?"

"Because we just do, Summer," he responded. "Just like dad has to have Chinese food for Christmas dinner, and just like Mom always has to get mad at dad for dissing Valentine's Day, and just like Ryan always has to punch someone when he's wearing a suit. It's just the way things have to be, otherwise it wouldn't be Christmas… or Valentine's Day… or a party."

"Summer, don't fight it, honey," Kirsten offered when the girl went to speak again. "I've been fighting them on it for years and I have yet to win. Sometimes you just have to let them have one."

Sandy turned from his wife to Summer. "She's a wise woman, Summer…"

Summer opened her mouth to say something, hesitated, then closed it again. "Fine, Cohen, but you're paying me back. And I'm talking like _Clueless_,_ Bring it On_, _Save the Last Dance_ paying me back."

"Ugh, fine," Seth agreed, though he made quite the show of protesting it. And he continued pouting as he picked up a plate and began scooping food onto it from the various boxes laid out in front of him. When it was full he handed it to Summer without a word, and she took it in the same manner before she grabbed a fork from the drawer and made her way to the table to sit down. Seth made quick work of filling his plate before he joined her at the table.

Sandy and Kirsten shared a secret look at the display as they filled their own plates and joined Seth and Summer at the table.

Marissa and Ryan came in a few moments later from the direction of the pool house and made their two plates for themselves before joining everyone else. Seth and Summer shared their own knowing glance as they both inwardly cringed at what they imagined their best friends had been doing. They couldn't really blame them, though, Seth and Summer thought to themselves simultaneously. If either of them had had their own room separate from the rest of their houses they would probably be making out and getting it on more often, too.

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Summer smiled as she finished wrapping her last gift. Seth was definitely rubbing off on her. Normally she had all of her shopping done and gifts wrapped by the first week of December, but this year her and Seth had just finished there shopping the week before and she had waited another week after that, until Christmas Eve when she couldn't possibly procrastinate any longer, to actually wrap them.

She looked at her bedside clock while she placed the final gift in the pile with all the rest of them. It was almost four, which meant Seth would be picking her up soon to bring her to the Cohens' for dinner.

She made her way downstairs to the kitchen to get a bottled water from the fridge and just as she was about to sit down and turn on the TV while she waited she heard his rhythmic knocking against the front door, beating out some random tune.

She opened it to see Seth standing with a goofy grin and sprig of mistletoe. "Merry Chrismukkah!" he announced as he leaned forward and planted a sound kiss on her lips.

"Hey!" she started when he pulled back. "I believe that was my move last year."

"Yeah, well…" he grinned. "I never collected last year, so I was just making up for it."

Summer shook her head but rewarded his efforts with another kiss before grabbing his hand and dragging him upstairs. "Come on, I just have to grab my gifts for your parents and Ryan and Marissa, then when can go."

"Hey, what about my gift?" he asked as he followed her into the room and let his eyes widen at the pile of gifts in the corner.

She rolled her eyes as she fell to her knees by the pile and started pulling out the ones she needed to bring with her. "Your gifts are in here too, you're just not getting them tonight."

"Why not? Everyone else gets theirs tonight. I was going to give you yours tonight," he pouted.

"Chill, Cohen," Summer ordered as she stood back up, a significant chunk of the pile now resting in her arms. "And stop whining. You'll get yours. You're just getting them tomorrow night… when I bring you over here to send you off to New York with the proper goodbye," she added with a grin and more than a hint of suggestion.

Seth's demeanor suddenly changed and he nodded, suddenly pleased with her gift giving strategy. "That sounds good. Definitely stick to tomorrow night. I like the sound of tomorrow night."

"I thought you would," she smiled as she dropped the gifts into his arms. "Now come on. Your mom said dinner was at six and I don't want to show up just in time to eat."

"Yeah," he agreed absentmindedly as he followed her out of her bedroom, using his elbow to flip the light off seeing as his hands were full of Summer's gifts for everyone.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs he finally let his curiosity get the best of him and he asked the question that had immediately sprung to mind when she had made the suggestion about giving his "proper goodbye" tomorrow night. "What about your dad?"

"Huh? What do you mean what about my dad?"

He considered his words carefully before speaking. "Won't he mind his little girl bringing over her boyfriend Christmas night and doing… whatever it is your planning on doing?" he finished discreetly, not quite comfortable talking about her dad and sex in the same sentence.

"Oh," Summer lowered her eyes, but raised them quickly again to meet his. It was Christmas and she refused to get sad or be in a bad mood. "He's not going to be here," she said breezily with a shrug. "He's on call at the hospital for the next 48 hours, so yeah, it's just going to be me and the step monster tomorrow, and she'll be so doped out she won't even know where she is, let alone what we're doing across the house."

"Your spending Christmas morning alone," Seth stated more to himself than to Summer, his voice laced with pity and confusion. The Cohen house was never one to uphold the typical holiday traditions, but one constant was always observed in their house at this time of year- Chrismukkah was not a holiday to be spent alone.

"Look, Cohen, it's no big deal. I'm going over to your house for most of the day, anyway. I'll barely even be home long enough to be alone."

"But still…" he couldn't wrap his mind around it. "No," he finally stated after a few moments of shaking his head in disbelief. "Just no. You can't wake up alone tomorrow."

"What are you going to do, Cohen?" she rolled her eyes and started for the front door. "Are you going to go to the hospital and force my father to come home and spend Christmas with his family?" she finished, slightly more bitter than she had started the conversation.

"No," Seth followed behind her. "You're just going to have to spend the night over my house tonight."

"Yeah, right, Cohen," she eyed him as she took the presents from his arms and dumped them in the backseat of her Beamer. "I am not intruding on your family and their holiday like that."

"Sum, it wouldn't be intruding. My parents love you. If Julie Cooper-Nichol forced her way into the family, then you're certainly part of it. My parents would be offended if they found out you spent the holiday alone and didn't come over."

"Seth, no," she answered firmly. "I am not imposing on your family so they feel like they have to take care of me like some charity case."

"Well then it's a good thing that in the Cohen house there's no such thing as a member of the family imposing," he said as he wrapped and arm around her shoulders and turned her back towards the house.

She tried to shrug him off but he was persistent. "Cohen, what are you doing?"

"We've got to go pack you a bag for the night, little lady. You're sleeping over," he stated firmly, leaving no more room for argument.

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"Wow, honey, that meal was amazing," Sandy complimented as everyone sat around the table that night after finishing dinner. "Caterer screw up or not, everything turned out great."

"Yes, Kiki, it was all very nice," Caleb commented from his seat between Julie and Seth.

"Yeah, mom, it was awesome!" Seth groaned content from his spot beside Summer, rubbing his full stomach.

Summer reached over to pat his belly as everyone else continued with their own conversations. "Aww, did you eat too much?"

"Mm, hmm," Seth answered, stretching against the back of the chair. "I don't think I'm going to be able to move the rest of the night."

"Okay, everyone," Kirsten's voice then rose above everyone's, "Why don't we all move into the family room to exchange gifts."

"I'm up," Seth immediately stood, all traces of discomfort gone as he grabbed hold of Summer's hand and pulled her into the living room, following behind everyone else.

The couple partook in the gift exchange from one of the chairs in the corner of the room, Summer perched on Seth's lap as they opened their gifts.

Seth, Ryan and the Cohens were only opening gifts from others that night. Sandy and Kirsten were holding the gifts they had gotten the boys until the morning so they could open them then, and once they found out Summer was staying the night they had also set the gifts they had gotten her aside to be opened the next morning.

So Seth and Ryan had just opened the ones from Caleb and Julie and Marissa that night, while Summer had opened hers from just Marissa.

After about a half hour of exchanging gifts and polite conversation Seth whispered in Summer's ear that he had something to show her in his room. She looked at him strangely but took his offered hand and let him lead her upstairs.

When they got to his room he shut the door behind them before turning to face her. "So I got you a few presents," he started, fidgeting with his suit jacket, "And most of them are downstairs under the tree for you to open tomorrow… but there was one I wanted you to open now."

"Okay," she answered, eyeing him curiously as she took a seat on the bed.

"Okay," Seth repeated, nodding. He went to his desk drawer and pulled out a neatly wrapped, thin, oblong box. "Here," he offered, handing it to her and taking a step back to watch her open it.

Summer opened it slowly, wondering what it was that had Seth so fidgety. Once she got it unwrapped she removed the top and tissue paper to reveal something she hadn't been expecting at all.

"An airplane ticket?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Yeah," he answered, nodding, trying to urge some kind of reaction from her. "Look at the location," he finally instructed when he realized she hadn't yet.

"New York," she read aloud. "December 26th?" she read the next line. "You mean this is to go with you?" she asked, looking up at him, her expression unreadable.

"Yeah," Seth answered self-consciously, suddenly worried she didn't like the idea. "Do you not want to go?"

"No, I do," Summer quickly amended. "It's just… short notice. I mean what about your family and your Nana? Would they be okay with me coming? And my dad… I don't think he'll let me go on such short notice…"

"No, I already checked with my Nana and she said it was fine," he informed her, taking a seat next to her on the bed now that he knew she wanted to go and he wasn't so nervous.

"But Seth, you said her apartment was small. Does she even have room for me?"

"Well, you see," Seth smiled. "That's where that old guy outside who likes to refer to me as his grandson comes in. He's got a condo on the Upper East Side that he stays in when he has business over there. He already gave me the keys."

"Really?" Summer smiled, finally letting the prospect of going actually start to sink in. "Oh, but what about my dad?" she remember quickly, knowing there was no way he would let her go to New York alone with Seth for a week. "He's not going to let me go; especially with only two days notice."

"What do you take me for?" he smirked. "What would you say if I already asked your dad and he said it was okay?"

"I'd say you're full of it because as much as I love you my dad still barely even tolerates you."

"Well you underestimate your father," Seth said with a pat to her nose. "Because as much as he's not my biggest fan- especially after the maid found my boxers tangled in your bed sheets last month- he's a reasonable man. When I told him that we were visiting my family and would be staying in a safe neighborhood in a high security building he gave in."

"Really?" she asked, not believing it.

"Yeah, basically. I mean there was more to the conversation than just that, namely a lot of threatening me about a number of different things, but basically that's the gist."

"So he's fine with it?"

"He's fine with it," Seth reiterated. "Now is there any other reason you can think of not to go?"

Summer smiled and shook her head as she brought her lips to his, wrapping her harms around his neck and kissing him thoroughly.

"So," he mumbled against her lips when they pulled apart. "I gave you a present… do you think that merits me getting to open one of yours tonight?"

She smirked as she brought his lips back to hers before sliding her hands over his shoulders and pushing his coat off. "I'll let you have the present I was going to give you tomorrow night…"

"I was hoping it would be that one," Seth murmured as he fell against her and they dropped to the bed.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

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"God, it's freaking freezing here, Cohen," Summer complained as she watched Seth struggle to get their bags into the trunk of the cab.

"Well, what'd you expect, _Roberts_?" He ignored the glare she threw at him for the use of her last name and continued, "It's New York in the middle of December."

Her teeth chattered as she responded. "Just hurry up and get the suitcases in so we can go, please."

"No one's stopping you from waiting in the car."

She glared at him as she gave in and jerked the back door of the cab open. "I was trying to be nice and wait for you," she snapped as she slid in and slammed the door.

She could see him mumbling something through the rearview mirror and guessed that it was some kind of complaining about her, but at the moment she didn't care as she relished in the warm air flowing from the vents in the front of the cab.

"Where to?" the cab driver spoke from the front seat, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Oh, uh, I don't know," she answered, shrugging and nodding her head towards Seth. "He has the address."

And, as if on cue, at that moment that the door opened, allowing in a chilly gust of winter air followed by a shivering Seth.

"Cohen, he needs the address."

"Oh, right," he nodded, feeling around his coat, searching for the right pocket. When he finally dipped his hand into the correct one he pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to the driver. "Do you know where it is?"

The driver narrowed his eyes and grunted as he handed the paper back to him.

"Right," Seth mumbled. "I guess it's your job to know where it is."

"Good job, Cohen!" Summer whispered harshly, watching the front seat out of the corner of her eye to make sure the driver couldn't hear. "You pissed off the driver and now he's probably going to drop us in some random slum where we're gonna get jumped and robbed."

"Well now he probably is that you said that!" Seth whispered back, gesturing wildly with his eyes back and forth between her and the driver.

"Tell him your family's loaded and that you tip well!"

Seth rolled his eyes. "Why? So he'll want to rob us?"

"I know this is New York City and I'm a cab driver, but I actually do speak English," came the irritated reply from the subject of their hushed conversation in the front seat.

The couple just stared wide-eyed at each other, unmoving and wishing for the grungy seat they were sitting on to swallow them whole.

"Should I-" Seth started to mouth to her after a moment but she immediately shook her head.

Maybe if they didn't speak and stayed still enough he would forget they were there until they arrived at their location.

"And it's against company policy to rob the patrons," the driver added when he saw neither one of them was going to speak.

"Oh," Seth answered, nodding politely. "Any particular reason the company feels the need to have a policy like that?" he questioned casually.

With a shake of his head and a role of his eyes the driver sighed. "It was a joke, kid."

"Right. I knew that."

"Thirty minutes," the driver spouted randomly over his shoulder after a few minutes of awkward silence.

"I'm sorry?" Seth asked, reluctant to begin another conversation.

"That's how long it'll take to get to your ritzy little condos, so don't start freaking out because you think it's taking too long or something."

"Wha…" Seth tried to laugh it off. "No. Of course... I wouldn't really… I mean, I think you're completely trustworthy… and I would never-"

"Cohen, shut up."

"Right. Yeah, ok."

------------------------------------------

"Holy crap, this place is huge, Cohen," Summer stated the obvious as she dropped the single bag she was carrying at her feet and surveyed Caleb Nichol's New York City penthouse.

"Thanks for the help, Sum," Seth wheezed as he followed her through the door, carrying the remaining three bags.

She turned her attention to him and rolled her eyes at the vision of him hunched over the dropped bags and breathing heavily. "Don't be such a pansy, Cohen. Hard work builds character. Besides, maybe it'll help you build up those noodle arms."

"My arms serve me just fine, thank you," he huffed, taking up the task of carrying the bags again and making his way in a direction where he thought a bedroom might be.

She picked up the single bag she had been carrying before setting off after him to make sure he picked a good room.

"Ah, Cohen," she whined as soon as he set their bags down in the first option they came across. She gestured towards the window. "Look at the view. The one on the other side's way better; over there you can see the park."

"Fine, you want to go to the other side, you can carry the bags."

She eyed him threateningly. "I am not carrying those bags, Cohen. They'll ruin my manicure."

"Fine," he retorted, not at all phased by her nonverbal threat of violence. "You want the view, then you can sleep on the other side, but your bags are staying right here."

"Okay," she quirked an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. "I will go to the other room. And if you don't get these suitcases in there in the next five minutes I'll be staying in that room all alone, while you'll be in this room every night, spending some quality time with your hand."

"Did you want the first room on the right or the one at the end of the hall?"

"Uh, huh…" Summer nodded. "I thought so."

Five minutes later they were unpacking in silence on the other side of the apartment in, what Seth figured, was the master bedroom. And aside from the fact that he was going to have to sleep in the same bed his grandpa had probably slept in with Julie Cooper, it was way nicer than the rooms on the other side.

He guessed Caleb really had no reason to furnish all the other bedrooms with all the luxuries if he was the only one whoever stayed at the place. The master room, on the other hand, had all the luxuries available. From a Plasma TV and gas fireplace in the bedroom to a bathroom that was bigger than his room at home and equipped with a giant Jacuzzi, his grandpa had hooked this place up.

Summer was busy scrupulously hanging every last article of clothing that could possibly be inclined to wrinkle while he was not so busy lounging on the king size bed and putting his Grandpa's 500 channel plus satellite dish to use.

When she finished the task of saving her clothes from the fate of wrinkling she joined Seth on the bed, nudging his body that was sprawled diagonally across it to give her room. "What time did you tell your Nana we'd be over?"

He kind of turned his head towards her but his eyes never left the screen as he answered. "I told her sometime after eight so we'd have time to get settled in and unpacked and everything."

She eyed him skeptically. "You told her we'd need three hours to get settled in? It took you all of five minutes to throw your suitcase down and get comfortable on the bed."

He rolled his eyes, finally turning his head to look at her fully once a commercial flooded the television screen. "I know it only took me five minutes, but _you_ usually take forever, so I wanted to give you an adequate amount of time."

"Oh. Well in that case I'm going to take a shower to wash the smell of plane off of me."

At the mention of that Seth's attention immediately left the television as he turned to Summer hopefully. "Can I come?"

"Seeing as how I actually want to shower, I don't think so."

"Hey, I resent that! Maybe I really want to shower too."

"Then you're in luck," Summer nodded her head towards the door. "There's another bathroom on the other side."

"Yeah, but there's no Jacuzzi," Seth answered cheekily.

"Were you planning on soaking, Cohen?"

"Maybe. My muscles are a little sore from having to lug your crap everywhere."

"Then you can use the Jacuzzi later," Summer stated finally, dismissing the conversation as she grabbed the bag that had all of her bath stuff in it and made her way into the bathroom.

"Or you could just give me a massage," he challenged her retreating form.

She appeared at the door again a second later with a narrow scowl, holding up the back of her hand to him. "What did I say about my manicure, Cohen?"

Seth sighed and rolled his eyes, letting his head fall back to the pillow as he turned his attention back to the TV.

"I'm sure you wouldn't be opposed to me giving you a massage," he called bitterly after a moment.

"Nope," she called sweetly back from the bathroom. "And if that's the case I'll even get in the Jacuzzi with you tonight."

"You take advantage of me, Summer. You take advantage of me and it hurts; it hurts real ba-"

He was silenced by the abrupt opening of the bathroom door followed by a white loofah hitting him on the side of the head.

Seth eyed the item curiously for a minute before calling coyly, "Is this an invitation?"

That was soon answered by the door swiftly opening and shutting again, this time accented by Summer's lacy black bra hitting him over the head.

"Okay…" Seth mumbled to himself as he hurried up from the bed and towards the bathroom, pulling his T-shirt over his head as he went. "That was _definitely_ an invitation."

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That night they made the 30 minute trip by cab to the Nana's Bronx apartment, and when they arrived Seth was greeted by no less than three cheek pinches and an uncountable number of squeals over how big he had gotten. Between his aunts and his great aunts he was doomed before he had ever walked in the door.

Summer on the other hand, loved her welcome. The whole family had embraced her as one of their own and went on and on about how Sophie hadn't done her justice at all when she had come home after Passover bragging about Seth's little girlfriend, and about how she was so gorgeous and had such dark, defined features and "was she sure she wasn't Jewish?"

The Nana had definitely been the happiest to see them, taking them both into tight hugs as soon as they made it through the crowd. Seth couldn't help but notice she looked a little less lively than she had been at Thanksgiving, but he chalked it up to the stress of the holidays and pushed it to the back of his mind.

The family had laid out an entire welcome feast for them which had Seth stuffed and moaning in contentment as he polished off his third and final plate. If only his mom had been Jewish and not his dad, then he could eat like this all the time. But, unfortunately for his taste buds, his mother was a WASP through and through, and WASPs in Orange County didn't learn to cook, they learned to call a caterer.

Oh well, Summer cooked for him sometimes, and while it wasn't his grandmother's cooking, it was a nice break from the constant takeout served from Styrofoam boxes he got at home. And of course, when Summer cooked for him it was usually because she was trying to be romantic, which always ended in a way that left him caring very little about what had been for dinner.

Summer had enjoyed the meal too, and spent the entire time they were eating talking to his Aunt Edie and his cousin Sarah about what her and Seth's plans were for the rest of the week.

Seth had cringed when he heard her assure them that there would definitely be shopping, and his aunt and cousin let out two squeals before immediately dispensing all of their New York shopping knowledge onto Summer, making sure she knew where all the little hidden jewels of the city were along with all the obvious places like Barneys and Macys.

Now that dinner was over most of the family was in the living talking while Seth, Summer and Sophie sat out on the balcony that doubled as a fire escape. The family had a cute little table complete with two chairs, handcrafted by Seth's uncle, set up out there for when someone wanted to enjoy the fresh air, and when the nana had decided she wanted to take advantage of it the young couple had decided to follow her out. After all, Seth had mostly come to visit her, and not much visiting could be done in the living room with 10 people all trying to talk over each other.

So now Sophie sat in one chair, taking in the night and the noises of the city while Summer sat perched on Seth's lap in the other.

After a few moments of comfortable silence the Nana turned her attention back to the two others at the table and sighed. She tilted her head slightly towards the table and Seth and Summer followed the movement until their eyes fell on the worn and dirty ashtray sitting at the center of it.

"No one else in the family smokes," she stated simply. "I just keep it as a kind of reminder to myself. I spent forty-one years smoking and I never really cared about the filth that was going into me."

Seth eyed her curiously, questioning her silently why she was bringing that up.

Sophie offered him an empty smile. "It's been almost eight months since I had my last cigarette. When I came back after that visit and started treatment the doctors said it might be enough, but it was just too little too late. Eight months certainly isn't enough to undo forty-one years of damage."

Seth's stomach did a weird sort of dropping thing as he finally realized why his grandmother seemed so much less energetic now. He studied her carefully to make sure he wasn't jumping to conclusions, his emotions easily clouding his eyes and revealing his desperation for his assumption to be wrong.

He felt Summer move her hand from his shoulder to grasp his own hand that was resting on her lap. Sophie wasn't leaving either of them very much room to jump to any other conclusions besides the worst.

Seth swallowed in an attempt to keep his voice stable and calm before speaking. "But at Thanksgiving you said everything was fine?"

"They found something at my check-up the week before, but they had wanted to run some more test and do some more scans before they decided anything for certain. I didn't want to worry your dad when I wasn't even sure myself. And at that time I was still hoping it was just a misreading."

"It wasn't a misreading?" he questioned quietly, looking down at his and Summer's hands clasped together. He could feel her other hand resting at the back of his neck and her thumb brushing soothingly across the base of his curls.

"The day after I got home they called. They asked me to come in so they could explain in person, but I already knew it wasn't good news. They don't ask you to come in to tell you that everything looks good."

The Nana had gone back to gazing out over the city. From the twelfth floor there was a good view, but her eyes seemed to be focused on something far past the city lights and skyscrapers.

"What'd they say?"

"It had come back… and it had spread. It was in my liver and my stomach and it was too much to treat with surgery or radiation."

"So what, you're just going to let it run its course?" Seth asked in disbelief, though his voice was still gentle and barely above a whisper.

"Cohen…" Summer whispered in his ear, finally speaking up for the first time since the conversation began.

Seth sighed but took her quiet reminder that this wasn't just about him and that he needed to keep his emotions in check. "I mean… there's nothing more they can do? They're just giving up?"

"There's nothing more I'm letting them do," Sophie corrected him. "They told me the odds and I made my choice. If I only had a little time left I didn't want to spend it in a hospital, weak and tired all the time from the treatment. I wanted to be at home with my family."

"What did everyone else have to say about this? Are Uncle Tom and Aunt Edie and everyone just okay with this?"

"I haven't told any of them yet."

"What?!" Seth's eyes widened as he stared, gaping at his grandmother. "You've known for a month and you haven't told your own kids. What about my dad?"

Sophie sighed. "You know your father. He's the one that talked me into the treatment in the first place. If I had told him he would have insisted that I try to fight it again, no matter what the odds."

"Yeah, but only because he cares. It'll kill him when he finds out your keeping this from him."

"I'm keeping it from him for his own good. I don't want him worrying away over me when there's nothing more that can be done."

"But he would want to know no matter what," Seth tried to convince her, his eyes glassy and pleading. "You're his mother. Are you just not going to tell him until he gets a call from the hospital one day telling him that you've been admitted and he should come?"

"That's just it; I don't want him to come. If he knew he would be here, neglecting his life and his family back home to come take care of me. Especially if he knew there were only a couple months left."

"Only a couple months-" he whispered harshly in disbelief. "Nana, he has a right to know so he can make the decision for himself. It wouldn't be a burden to him to know."

"Seth," the Nana addressed him with an air of finality. "I will tell my children when I'm ready and when I think they'll be able to handle it. For now I just want to enjoy what time I have left my family without everyone worrying that I'm on my last legs or that I'm going to break."

"Well why me, then? Why did you tell me and no one else?" Seth asked quietly, once again avoiding eye contact with her by focusing on Summer's thumb brushing gently over the top of his hand.

"Why do you think I wanted you to come out to visit so soon, Seth? Why couldn't it wait until summer vacation? I wanted the chance to get to know you better and see the young man you've become."

"But I'm already here. It's not like you needed to tell me that to guilt me into coming."

"I wanted you to understand. You're just like your father when he was younger. Way too protective for your own good, but in the end you're always reasonable and you always try to understand. I wanted to go to you father, but I didn't think his reason would win out in the end this time. I just wanted someone I could trust after I'm gone-"

Seth cringed at those words and he shook his head to show her that he wasn't accepting that.

"_After I'm gone_…" she repeated, leaning forward to place her hand firmly over his and Summer's. "It would be nice if someone was there to be the voice of reason, to explain to everyone why I chose to do it the way I did."

Seth swallowed the lump in his throat and forced out his next words. "You should tell my dad."

Sophie shook her head solemnly as she leaned back into her chair.

"He'll get it," he tried to argue. "He might be upset at first, but he'll understand and he'll help you tell everyone else."

"Seth, I know my family better than anyone else, and they won't understand. Cohens scrap and fight until there's nothing left. They'll think I'm giving up."

"Well aren't you?"

"Unless you can get me some new lungs, a new liver, a new stomach and promise that it hasn't spread anywhere else then I'm not giving up. I'm just accepting the inevitable and bowing out gracefully. They're giving me something for the pain, and they're monitoring the, uh… the progress of the cancer. I go in for weekly check ups, and they'll let me know when I need to tell my kids," she finished soberly, her own tears now threatening to fall.

Seth took in a shaky breath and nodded his understanding. His eyes were glassy with unshed tears as he looked down at his trembling leg to avoid his grandmother seeing him on the verge of breaking.

"I don't want you to die," he finally whispered, his voice cracking and betraying his true state to the others.

All he could see were images of his grandmother and all their memories together running through his head. Like when she had come for his sixth birthday, and spent an entire hour comforting him after he had fallen and scraped his knee on the deck of their pool. She had danced with him at his Bar Mitzvah and told him that he was perfect the way he was and that the other kids had no idea what kind of friend they were missing out on. She'd gone toe to toe with Caleb Nichol on several occasions and won. She was an incredible woman and Seth couldn't accept that this was the end.

"Seth…" Sophie drawled soothingly, leaning forward and placing a soft kiss against his forehead. "This isn't the end," she whispered as if she could read his thoughts. "We still have this week, and it could take months after that. I didn't want you to come out here to be sad and sulk. I wanted to spend time with you and make more memories, and that's what we're going to do."

Seth nodded as he finally lifted his head to look at her.

"Now," Sophie smiled, "do you two think you can manage some smiles so we can go back inside, because it's the middle of winter and I'm getting pretty damn cold out here on this fire escape."

Seth nodded and offered his best smile while Summer did the same, her own eyes red and puffy.

"Can you just give us a minute?" Seth asked, desperately in need of a few seconds to collect his thoughts and emotions.

"Of course. Just don't stay out here too long. You'll catch a cold with nothing but that flimsy sweater on," Sophie answered referring to the forest green pullover he had worn under his heavy winter jacket on the way over.

Seth just nodded and pulled Summer closer to him, suddenly realizing that she also had left her winter coat inside and might be cold from sitting out on the landing for so long. He waited for his nana to disappear back into the apartment before he finally spoke.

"Are you warm enough?" His voice came out husky due to the cold and still a little shaky from the conversation.

He could feel her nod her head as she buried her face against his neck.

"Are you okay?" she murmured against his skin, her breath warming the area that it brushed across.

Seth stayed silent for a moment, not knowing how to answer the question. Was he okay? Yeah, he was physically fine. He would wake up the next morning and keep living his life just like any other day. Emotionally? He wasn't sure. His grandma on his mom's side was the only other person close to him that had died, and he had been so young it hadn't really affected him the way this was now. He didn't know how to deal with death or the prospect of it. It wasn't something that had ever really touched him before.

Finally, after minutes of silence save the sound of their breathing, Seth turned his face into her hair and whispered softly, "I love you."

Summer pulled back and looked at him thoughtfully, studying his features for an explanation.

"I just think it needs to be said more often," he answered simply, holding her tighter against him.

Summer turned her lips in and smiled sadly as her eyes continued to roam over his face. "I love you, too."

They left the apartment a little more than an hour later. It was past midnight by the time they reached Caleb's penthouse.

Summer didn't get her massage in the Jacuzzi that night.

Instead they climbed into bed wordlessly and Summer spooned him from behind, rubbing soothing patterns over his back for over an hour until his short, ragged breaths finally gave way to deep, rhythmic breathing and he was able to find some peace in his sleep.

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